


heart beats slow.

by porcelainsimplicity



Series: i refuse to admit there was a beach divorce (aka all my charles/erik fics) [53]
Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Vampire, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2018-12-16 06:37:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11823252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/porcelainsimplicity/pseuds/porcelainsimplicity
Summary: He had heard the stories of the vampires since he was a child.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this was posted here before but i took it down so i could rewrite it. i'm taking my time with this fic, so the updates will come slowly, but they will come, i promise. i desperately want to get this fic out into the world because i'm very, very excited about this idea, and i want to know what you all think of it. so if you choose to go along on this ride with me, i thank you in advance and hope that you enjoy it.

**Prologue**  
  
_New York City, 1962_

He had heard the stories of the vampires since he was a child. His stepfather spoke of dark, evil creatures who drew you in and made you weak, vile things who could quickly get what they wanted from you and leave you broken and lifeless in the streets before you even realized what was happening. He showed him articles from the local newspaper, photographs of the scene of the latest murders, warning him to never walk alone at night. He taught him how to make himself strong, how to fight so that he could protect himself should he ever encounter one. And his mother had always mentioned to never lock eyes with one should he end up in their presence, for if he did, his soul would be lost forever.

But Charles couldn't help his fascination, tempting fate by frequenting the clubs that he knew it happened at, dancing the night away as people were chosen around him. He never had given much thought to the idea that one night he would be among them, not imagining that a vampire could find him more appealing than any of the other fit, able bodies around him. So one night when the gentle tap came to his right shoulder, he was so shocked at the fact that it was happening that he didn't even realize what exactly he was getting himself into.

He followed the man to a dark, upstairs corner of the club, glancing around nervously as he sat down in the chair the escort pointed to. He'd been looking back towards the dancing crowd below when he felt the strong presence approach, and he slowly turned his head towards it. None of the descriptions he'd ever heard could compare to the vampire that stood before him. Brunet, for a start, the hair on his head much too light to have ever been the jet black he so often heard about associated with creatures of his kind. Gorgeous, for another, utterly spectacularly gorgeous, so much better looking than mere mortals that Charles knew he had been ruined for anyone else, because no one would ever be able to compare. This vampire was not the ugly, wretched creature of his nightmares; he was the stunning, beautiful man of his dreams.

“Thank you,” the vampire said softly, and the escort that had brought him to the room nodded and disappeared. Charles found himself alone in the vampire's presence, his attention focused solely on him, and the fear he anticipated he should be feeling never developed. He was calm, would even go so far as to say he felt safe, and he didn't flinch when the vampire came closer and trailed fingers down the side of his face.

“You are beautiful.”

“So are you,” Charles breathed out, bringing his eyes up to meet the vampire's gaze. The moment their eyes locked, Charles knew that his mother had been right – he was lost. More emotions flowed through him during that short moment than he thought he'd felt in his entire life. He shivered in anticipation as the fingers trailed under his jaw and up over his lips, his lungs feeling heavier with each breath he took, and he found he wanted nothing more than to offer up all of himself to the vampire.

“In time,” the vampire said softly, strong fingers wrapping around Charles's elbow and pulling him up from the chair. “First, I would like to know the name of the man I have watched for weeks.”

“Charles,” he stammered out, his brain sent into overdrive at the thought that he'd been watched. He felt dizzy as they walked down a staircase and out a back exit, following along without hesitation when a car pulled up and the vampire asked him to get inside. 

“What is your name?” Charles asked softly as he settled into the car's backseat, his heart rate increasing when the vampire wrapped his arm around him and tangled fingers into his hair.

“I no longer remember what my name once was,” the vampire said as he smiled softly. “However, they call me Erik.”

*****

The first thought that flashed through Charles's mind when he awoke was that he was still alive. There had been fleeting moments the previous night where he had felt certain that he wouldn't live to see the next morning, when he had felt the sharp graze of fangs over the paperthin skin of his neck and realized just how dangerous the situation he'd gotten himself into was. But morning had arrived and he was still breathing, and despite the massive relief, Charles found himself more confused than he had ever been, and with absolutely no desire to rise from the bed he laid in and return to life as he had known it before.

“You cannot leave,” a soft whisper came from behind him. “But I am glad to know that you do not wish to.”

Charles took a deep breath and shifted until he was lying on his back, smiling softly when he saw the vampire – Erik, he reminded himself – watching him closely. “I didn't say that out loud.”

“You do not have to give voice to your thoughts in order for me to hear them,” Erik said softly, stretching languidly next to him. “You do rise rather early for someone who was awake all night. We'll have to work on getting you to sleep longer.”

Charles sighed and settled further into the bed. “So how does this work then? You keep me around until you're sick of me, and then you kill me?"

“Kill you?” Erik laughed slightly, slowly trailing his fingers along Charles's arm. “No. But you know what is going to happen next, don't you? Surely you have heard something about what happens to those who are chosen?”

Charles took a deep breath and shook his head. “No, to be honest. I've heard of it happening and I've seen people around me at the club be chosen and known that was what was happening, but beyond that? I guess I always thought they were your next victims.”

“Victims,” Erik spat out angrily, drawing his hand away from Charles's arm. “So you were raised in one of those homes.”

Charles frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You were chosen, yes, but you had a choice too,” Erik said quickly, pinning Charles down to the mattress. “You could have refused at any point last night, and I would have stopped. It is not my desire to harm you. None who are chosen are ever harmed.”

“Then who are the ones that are harmed?”

“If you are talking about those who end up in your newspapers, those are the ones who choose to fight us, unprovoked I might add. Accords were made with humankind after the last great war, centuries ago, and they are still respected today. We have the right to protect ourselves, however, and there are just enough scaremongers among your kind that sadly, some feel the need to attack us when our paths cross. To be honest, there is very little of a fight.” Erik put his hand back on Charles's arm, gently continuing the slow track along his veins that his fingers had been taking. “That's not something that you have to worry about. I will never cause you harm, and I will protect you from others who wish to cause harm to you. That I vow to you.”

“I believe you,” Charles said, feeling like he was drowning as he stared into Erik's eyes. “I don't know why, but I believe everything that you say.”

Erik smiled and shifted so he was lying next to Charles, his fingers still trailing over Charles's arm. “It is because our souls know each other. I knew it from the moment I laid eyes upon you. You are the one I have spent centuries looking for.”

“You overwhelm me,” Charles admitted quietly, his hands coming up to play with Erik's hair.

“I am not surprised. You are still mortal,” Erik said, leaning over to kiss Charles softly. “Mortals think and feel differently than we do, because you have to worry about time. We are going to eliminate that problem, however.”

Charles felt his breath catch in his throat. “We are?”

“I can explain to you how it works, how it will feel, but you have to ask me to do it,” Erik said, brushing the hair from Charles's forehead. “You have to want it.”

Charles gasped and was relieved when he felt his lungs fill with air. “Now?”

“We can do it whenever you like,” Erik said. “I am impatient, and want you all to myself now, but if you are not comfortable, we will wait. I would wait forever for you.”

Charles hesitated. “What if I don't want it?”

“You wouldn't have stayed the night if you didn't want it. Stay calm,” Erik said softly, settling his head on Charles's shoulder. “Your soul will tell you when it's time.”

“You're so sure about this.”

Erik smiled. “I am older than you, and wiser when it comes to such things. You will soon realize that this is your destiny.”

“Can I ask you some questions in the meantime?”

“Of course. You have the right to know whatever you want about the life you will choose to enter.”

“Vampires have souls?”

“Every creature has a soul,” Erik said softly, letting his eyes drift closed. “From the tiniest insect to the oldest vampire.”

“I was always told that vampires were soulless.”

“The Church, which believes we are the personification of evil and was wholly against the peace accords, tells a lot of lies about us, and about other supernatural creatures, in an attempt to scare humankind away from interacting with us. They don't see that for every human their words drive away, another just becomes more curious.”

Charles swallowed hard. “Other supernatural creatures?”

“You will encounter one every once and awhile. A select few choose to live among the vampires. Most do not, and will likely not be seen again until the next war.”

“The next war?”

“It is only a matter of time before these fractions of scaremongers band together and recruit others to join their cause. They are nothing more than silly mortals who think they stand a chance against us, when the reality is, they don't. And they won't fight us because they believe us to be evil, or believe us to be killers. No, they'll do it because they want the power that we possess.”

“Power?”

“I mean no offense to you, but humans are weak,” Erik said, shifting around until he could look Charles in the eyes. “They are weak but they think they are strong. They think they are invincible. If a group of humans decides that it wants something, then they will figure out how to take it from whoever it is that has what they want. Humans have fought countless wars against one another throughout time, and over what? Land? Money? No. What they want, what they always want, is power.

“Human governance does not work, not the way that they intend. Any governmental system the humans have come up with – monarchy, democracy, totalitarianism, whatever it may be – they inevitably divide the humans into the haves and the have nots, and the people who are oppressed are eventually going to rise up. And why do the oppressed do that? Because they want the power that their oppressors have.”

“They want freedom.”

“Yes,” Erik said, settling back down next to Charles. “But freedom is power. Now, I will be glad to continue answering these questions for you, but the sun doesn't set for another six hours and I would really like to go back to sleep.”

“Of course,” Charles said. “I didn't mean to bother you.”

“You will never bother me,” Erik said, sliding his head off of Charles's shoulder and onto a pillow. “You may explore the house if you wish. My only request is that you not touch the window coverings. However, I would like you to stay in bed and sleep more. It's going to take long enough for you to make the transition between being awake during the day and being awake at night.”

Charles looked around the room for a moment before settling next to Erik and letting himself drift off to sleep.

*****

Charles sat up and leaned against the headboard, watching as Erik walked around the room in nothing but a towel. “Vampires shower?”

“Yes, for similar reasons as you humans do.”

“Such as?”

“There are times we need to clean ourselves,” Erik said, letting the towel drop to the floor and walking towards his closet. “Especially after we eat. That can at times be very......messy, let's say.”

“What is it like?”

Erik glanced over his shoulder at Charles. “What is what like?”

“Killing someone.”

Erik sighed and turned back to the closet, searching through the clothes that were hung there. “When you are a newly made vampire, it is very easy to kill. For some, that continues with them throughout eternity. They will never eat without also killing. I am not like that.”

“So you don't kill anybody then?”

“Not often,” Erik said, selecting a pair of black trousers and tossing them towards the bed. “Only when I am so thirsty that I cannot stop myself, and I try very hard not to let myself get that thirsty.”

“What happens to the people you feed from then?”

Erik took a deep breath and pulled a sapphire blue shirt from the closet, glancing back at Charles and staring for a moment before tossing it towards the bed. “Wear those. They should fit you, but we're going to have to buy you some clothes soon.”

“You didn't answer my question,” Charles said, crawling to the end of the bed and picking up the shirt that had been tossed there. “I'm not getting dressed until you tell me.”

“You have to get dressed. We have to meet with John,” Erik said, turning back to the closet. “As for the people I feed on, well, it depends upon the situation.”

“What kind of situations are there?”

Erik pulled a pair of gray trousers from the closet and bent to pull them on. “Usually, I drain them just enough to slip into unconsciousness, then leave them in an alley and alert the proper medical authorities that they are there. Other times it's different. Some beg me to turn them. I usually don't – it's usually extremely obvious that they would make absolutely pathetic vampires – but with the odd few, I do. You will meet them soon. Vampires don't often stray far from their makers.”

Charles undid the buttons on the shirt and slid it on. “So is this John your maker?”

“No,” Erik said, pulling a blood red t-shirt from the closet and putting it on. “John is the American Chancellor.”

“The American Chancellor?”

“John is responsible for all matters concerning justice, foreign affairs, financial and economic issues, and the registration of newly made vampires,” Erik said, grabbing a fitted black jacket off the back of a chair and putting it on. “He's basically the head of all things vampire in the country. And he hates it, but he doesn't have a choice in the matter. The top governmental positions are held by the eldest vampires in a region, and you won't find one older than John anywhere in the country.”

“How old is he?”

“John is nearing his twenty-three-hundredth year of vampire life.”

“Twenty-three hundred?” Charles sounded incredulous. “I'm going to meet someone who was born in the fourth century B.C.?”

“Yes,” Erik said. “I don't know how old he was when he was turned, but I'd guess he was in his mid to late twenties. Those years do not count towards a vampire's age though. The day that I turn you will essentially be like the day you were born. That date will be celebrated as your birthday each year, and I will be able to show off my sexy young lover.”

“How old are you then?” Charles asked, climbing off the bed to put on the trousers Erik had given him.

Erik turned towards Charles and watched as he finished dressing. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Yes,” Charles said, staring at him. “I want to know everything there is to know about you.”

Erik walked over to Charles and tugged the shirt out of the trousers' waistband, smiling at him. “I like you looking more disheveled than put-together.”

Charles reached out and grabbed his wrists, staring up at him until Erik finally sighed and gave in.

“One thousand and twenty-five.”

Charles stared at him in awe. “One thousand and twenty-five?”

“I was a soldier, fighting for King Æthelstan in the Battle of Brunanburh in 937. I was severely wounded in the battle and left behind to die. I was still alive when night fell, and I prayed that I would not live to see the morning. Then out of nowhere, a man was hovering over me. I thought he was an angel, sent to guide me to heaven, so when he told me to close my eyes, I did. The truth was that he was a vampire, and instead of guiding me to heaven, he turned me. He stayed just long enough after I awoke from the transformation to tell me to feed on any fallen soldier that still breathed, and then he disappeared. I never saw him again. I don't even know his name. I had spent twenty-seven years living a human life, and have now spent one thousand and twenty-five years living a vampire life.”

Erik glanced up when the clock began to chime, smiling at Charles as he grabbed one of his hands. “Time to leave or we're going to be late. John does not like his appointments to start late.”

“What are we meeting him for? I'm not a vampire yet.”

“No, but you will be soon, and John is the one who will make sure that the unfinished business of your human life is taken care of.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that by now you have been reported as a missing person to the police, and as part of the peace accords, we are required to inform them that you have been turned. You will be given the choice of having the police inform your family of your new life, or having the police appear to investigate your disappearance, but be unable to find you due to lack of evidence. However, I must inform you that even if you have the police tell your family, you are not allowed to make any contact with them ever again. That is part of vampiric law, and you will be expected to abide by it.”

“What if I don't want you to turn me?”

Erik stopped at the bottom of the stairs and pulled Charles into a deep kiss. “Do you want that for the rest of eternity?”

Charles melted against him, smiling. “Yes.”

“Then you want it. The only thing you have left to decide is when. Now come on, John is much easier to deal with when I show up on time.”

*****

“Erik?”

The vampire's eyes opened slowly, his gaze settling on the clock on the bedside table. “It is eleven o'clock in the morning, Charles. We only went to bed five hours ago.”

“I'm ready.”

Erik rolled onto his other side and took in the sight of Charles sitting cross-legged on the bed next to him, wearing a long sleeved white shirt with half the buttons undone, pulled just right across his body so that Erik had complete access to the vein that pulsed through Charles's neck. “Are you sure? We've barely talked about what the transformation will be like.”

“I'm sure,” Charles said, reaching for one of Erik's hands and helping him sit up. “I dreamed of life before I met you. Of how lonely I was, just drifting aimlessly through life waiting for something to happen that would make me come alive. That's what this is. This is you bringing me to life. This is where I belong.”

Erik shifted around so that he was facing Charles before reaching out and running a single finger down the side of Charles's neck. “I have wanted to taste you from the first moment I saw you,” he said softly.

“Then do it.”

Erik wrapped his arms around Charles's waist and hauled him down to the bed, straddling his hips once Charles was flat on his back. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”

“I'm not going to change my mind,” Charles said, reaching up to tuck a lock of hair behind Erik's ear. “I want this. I want you to do this.”

“Close your eyes, and do absolutely everything I tell you to do. If you don't, you'll only make the transformation take longer and be more painful.”

“Okay,” Charles said, closing his eyes and tilting his head to the right. “Do it.”

Charles gasped as he felt Erik's hands on his shoulders, shivering when he felt a gentle kiss pressed to the base of his neck, then the graze of fangs across his skin.

“Take a deep breath. It's going to be your last,” Erik whispered in his ear.

Charles nodded shakily and took a deep breath, and as he began to let the air flow back out of his lungs, the sharp sting of the fangs sinking into his skin hit him and the world went black.

*****

The first thing Charles noticed when he woke up was how bloody hungry he was. And bloody was the right word for it, because it wasn't a cup of tea that he longed for anymore, it was blood. He closed his eyes and tried to suck in a deep breath, but stopped when he realized the air wasn't filling his lungs. His mind drifted back to what Erik had said before he'd bitten him earlier, and Charles suddenly realized he no longer needed to breathe to survive.

His eyes opened again, and he took in the room he was lying in, recognizing it as Erik's bedroom. So his location hadn't changed, but why did he feel like he was somewhere different? He sat up in bed and glanced at the sheets, seeing the blood stains on them. His blood. The white button down shirt he was wearing was almost completely dyed red, and it was shredded, barely hanging on to his body.

And that's when he realized he was alone.

“Erik?” he called out, and the door to the room flew open, Erik striding in and heading straight for Charles.

“You shouldn't be awake yet,” Erik murmured, grabbing Charles by the face and tilting his head so he got a good look at his neck. “Your wounds are healed though, so that means the transformation is complete. How do you feel?”

“Amazing,” Charles admitted. “Like my senses are heightened.”

“They are.”

“I feel stronger.”

“You are.”

“I'm dying for something to eat.”

Erik smiled at him. “As you should be. Shall we have tea first? Something to ease you into the blood?”

“Tea?” Charles was confused. “I thought vampires only drank blood.”

“It's blood tea,” Erik said, reaching for Charles's hand and pulling him up. “You look gorgeous. You should look at yourself in the mirror.”

“I'll be able to see myself in a mirror?”

Erik laughed. “Of course you will. Do me a favor? Take everything you thought you knew about vampires and forget it. I'll teach you the reality.”

Charles walked around Erik and headed to where there was a mirror on the wall, his eyes widening when he took in his appearance. His skin was pale, porcelain-like, and though it was seemingly impossible, it made his eyes look bluer than before. His hair was a disaster, going in all sorts of different directions, and when Erik stepped behind him and wrapped his arms around him, Charles couldn't help but think that he'd made the right decision.

“I'm glad you think so,” Erik murmured, bending down to kiss Charles's shoulder. “I am so happy you're here. I have waited for you for so long.”

“Well, I'm here now,” Charles said. “And I'm not going anywhere.”

Erik grinned. “Indeed. Now, to the kitchen to feed you.”

Charles just nodded and Erik grasped his hand, leading him from the bedroom and up two flights of stairs to the kitchen. It was only then that Charles realized that it was dark outside. “Am I keeping you from doing something? I know you only have a limited amount of time each day.”

“You are the only thing I'm concerned with right now,” Erik said, depositing Charles in a chair at the table and heading over to boil some blood for the tea. “We'll have to figure out what type of blood you prefer, but I'm starting you out with my favorite, O-negative.”

“There's a difference?”

“Each type tastes differently, yes,” Erik said, reaching into a cupboard for two cups as the kettle settled on the stove. “Trust me, you will end up with a favorite. It's no different than having a favorite flavor of ice cream.”

“Ice cream,” Charles murmured. “I'll never get to have ice cream again.”

“Blood ice cream,” Erik said, turning to glance back at him. “You'll soon realize that we make a lot of different foods with blood. You won't have to just drink pure blood all the time. In fact, I think that with our tea we should have some blood cookies.”

Charles watched as Erik opened another cupboard and took out a package, then walked it over to Charles. “Here, there are the cookies. I'd tell you to save me one, but I have a feeling that once the blood hits your tongue, you'll be devouring the entire package.”

Charles stared at the package curiously for a moment while Erik went back to the kettle, which was just starting to steam. He opened it and pulled a cookie out, marveling at how it looked just like a cookie, but was a deep shade of red. He brought it to his mouth and tentatively took a small bite, and the moment it hit his tongue, Charles was suddenly ravenous. He shoved the rest of the cookie into his mouth, chewing it as quickly as possible so he could have another.

Erik poured the tea in to the cups and brought them over to the table, laughing when he saw the crumbs all over the place. “Ah, just as I thought. Here, wash it down with the tea.”

Charles just nodded, reaching for one of the cups and bringing it up to sip. He was amazed by how good it tasted, and it wasn't long before he'd drained the entire cup. Erik just looked at him as he set down the empty cup and slid his own across the table. “You need this more than me.”

They sat there, Charles consuming all the food in sight while Erik watched amused, until the food was gone. “That tasted amazing,” Charles finally managed. “But I'm still so hungry.”

Erik glanced over at the clock before nodding. “We have enough time before sunrise to go out and get you your first meal. But you need to take a shower and get properly dressed first.”

Charles looked down at himself and nodded. “Probably a good idea.”

Erik stood up. “You go get ready. I'll clean up this mess.”

Charles nodded and went back downstairs, jumping through a quick shower and then going through Erik's closet to find something to wear. He settled on black trousers and white v-neck t-shirt, then got dressed. He was just finishing up when Erik came into the room, and he smiled appreciatively when he saw Charles.

“Mmm, I want to drag you into bed now,” Erik murmured as he walked closer to him. “But, you must eat first. It is important to keep up your strength.”

Charles nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. To both.”

Erik laughed and took Charles by the hand, leading him upstairs to the garage. Charles practically purred again when he saw the sleek black sports car sitting there, and Erik grinned. “I know, I know, you're jealous of the car. We'll get you one soon, I promise. But for now, passenger seat.”

They both got into the car and Erik drove them to a rather deserted looking portion of town. They got out of the car and Erik led Charles to an alley, and Charles's eyes went wide when he saw what was going on. There were a lot of people in the alley, twenty or so he thought, and they all turned and looked at them expectantly.

“Welcome,” Erik whispered in his ear, “to a feeding zone.”

“These are all people to feed on?” Charles whispered back.

“All volunteers,” Erik said, leading him further into the alley. “Who looks appetizing to you? Let your senses feel them. One will stand out.”

Charles let his eyes go from person to person, eventually stopping on a petite brunette near the back of the alley. “Her.”

Erik just smiled. “Excellent choice.”

They walked down to where the woman was, and Charles stepped in front of her eagerly, Erik right behind him. “Hi.”

“Hello,” the woman said, leaning her head to the side and exposing her neck.

Charles made a move forward, but Erik's strong arm around his waist stopped him. “Listen first,” Erik murmured. “Bite into her pulse point and suck gently. You'll be able to feel as the life slowly drains out of her. Try and stop before you kill her.”

Charles looked at the woman's face, knowing that she heard all of that, and then took in the fact that she still had her neck exposed to him. “You're not afraid to die?”

“No,” the woman said. “Please, take as much as you need.”

Charles started forward again and this time Erik let him go. He brought his hand up to her neck, letting his fingers run along the vein there before leaning forward and letting his teeth sink into her neck. He didn't hear the small gasp she made, only the sound of blood coursing through her veins, and he began to suck. Charles never knew blood could taste so good.

Erik made his way behind the woman, wrapping his arms around her waist as she began to weaken while keeping a close eye on Charles. Charles was feeding at the same pace as he had started with, and Erik smiled. This was going better than with anyone he'd ever turned before.

Charles pulled away abruptly, blood dripping down onto his lower lip, and Erik caught the woman as she began to sink down to the ground. He carefully lowered her to the ground before looking up at Charles. “Still hungry?”

Charles just nodded.

“Then choose another.”

By the time Charles felt his hunger subside, he'd gone through half the people in the alley. Erik kept a careful eye on all the people Charles had fed from, and once he was done, he went to the phone booth right outside the alley and placed a call to the emergency services, letting them know there were people in that feeding zone who were in need of assistance. Then he grabbed Charles by the hand and pulled him back to the car.

“We've got a couple hours left until sunrise,” Erik said as they climbed into the car. “What do you want to do?”

Charles just looked over at him and shrugged. “What do you normally do?”

“Sit at the club and stare at you,” Erik said, not at all embarrassed by the fact. “We could forget about the time left until sunrise and go home, and then you can experience what it's like to fuck as a vampire.”

“It's different?”

“You said it yourself, Charles. Your senses are heightened. What do you think?”

Charles let a wicked grin spread across his face. “I say we let me find out.”

Erik just grinned back and drove off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Prologue cont.**

_Washington D.C., 1962_

Erik sighed as he walked into the building, nodding at Moira as he passed by her desk, then ducking into the boardroom for the meeting just as the clock chimed to signal midnight had hit. He smiled at Hank as he slipped into his seat, allowing himself a small laugh as Raven stared at him from across the table. “It's not polite to stare, you know.”

“Every single time,” Raven murmured, her voice painted with amazement. “How do you do that every single time?”

Erik laughed again, this time fuller and drawing the attention of the others at the table. “I cannot help the fact that I have perfect timing, Raven. Unlike others, who are perfectly capable of arriving on time and yet don't.”

His gaze shifted from Raven to the door, the rest of the table bursting out into laughter as the door flew open and Wade Wilson waltzed in.

“What?” he barked, striding over to his chair and sitting down. “What the fuck are you all laughing at?”

“Just your impeccable timing,” Erik said looking around the room before reaching to take his copy of the binders Moira was in the process of handing out. “Thank you, Moira. Are we all present and accounted for now?”

Wade rolled his eyes as Moira carefully approached him, snatching the binder from his hands and throwing it down on the table in annoyance. “Have you forgotten about Roberto, old man? I believe it was announced at the last meeting that he was supposed to be here from now on.”

“Roberto has been allowed an absence from today's meeting,” John said as he walked into the room, nodding at Erik as he took his seat at the head of the table. “Erik, please pass long our condolences to him when he returns home.”

“I will,” Erik said, opening up the binder and glancing over the first page, appearing to completely ignore the fact that Wade had nearly knocked his chair over backwards. “You should learn to sit with all four legs of the chair on the ground.”

“Oh fuck off,” Wade said, glancing up at the clock. “Can we get this started already? I'd kind of like to enjoy my day before the sun comes up.”

“First, would someone please explain to me what it is Roberto needs condolences for?” Hank glanced around the table and saw other confused faces. “Not all of us are privy to what goes on inside your head, Erik.”

Erik reached out and picked up a pen, scribbling a note next to one of the items on the agenda. “Mamen died yesterday.”

“Mamen?”

Erik sighed and made another note on the page. “Mamen was the girl that he was to marry before he met me. He has traveled back home to pay his respects.”

Wade's jaw dropped and he stared at John in disbelief. “Are you fucking serious? How have you been letting him get away with this?”

“Wade,” John began calmly, “it is important for you to remember that made vampires still have a connection to the human world. Roberto retained his memories and therefore his feelings for his intended bride, and it was only natural that he kept track of her until her death, an event which he is allowed to mourn.”

“We are not supposed to maintain relationships with humans!” Wade exclaimed, shoving his chair back and standing up. “And that is a relationship with a human if I have ever heard of one.”

Erik cleared his throat and shook his head lightly. “He never made contact with her, Kid. He watched her from afar.”

“Do not fucking call me that,” Wade spat out angrily. “I am six hundred and ninety-six years old. I think I have outgrown the nickname of a child.”

Erik took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, his hands coming up to his temples to massage them lightly, unwilling to have this conversation for the ten thousandth time. “You are the last pure born vampire in America, Wade. That is why you have the title. You will only outgrow it when another pure vampire is born.”

“Tea, just the way you like it,” Moira said, interrupting the conversation to set a teacup down in front of Erik. “O-negative with a dash of AB-positive.”

“Thank you Moira.” Erik glanced at John as he reached for the small handle. “You are not having any?”

“I already have,” John said, looking over to Moira. “Is this the blood that was left from that young Frenchman?”

“Yes, sir, but not all of it. There is still some for you to enjoy later.”

“Fantastic.”

“Well, now that all that has been established, can we please move on to something of actual importance?” Wade asked, annoyance and impatience in his voice.

“Wade, sit down,” John ordered, running his hands through his hair as Wade collapsed into his chair. “Well, I was going to save this for later in the meeting, but since we're on the subject. It has been brought to my attention that a conception has occurred in Omaha.”

Erik paused with his cup almost to his mouth, his eyes wide. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me correctly. A conception has occurred in Omaha.” John looked around the table when he was met with silence. “Someone say something. Your silence unnerves me.”

“I'm confused,” Raven said, swallowing hard when everyone's attention turned to her. “Conceptions occur all the time. There's new vampires born all the time.”

“Didn't you pay attention in school?” Wade asked, ducking when Raven threw a pen at him. “Oooh, the senator wannabe threw a pen at me. I'm so scared.”

“That is enough, Wade,” John said firmly. “For the record, I don't believe this has been taught in the schools for the past two centuries. It was thought the practice had become extinct. Anyway, yes, Raven, there are, but those are conceptions between a born vampire and their made partner. This is different. What we are talking about now is a conception between two born vampires. Moira, what was the information you gathered about the parents again?”

Moira quickly searched through the stack of papers in her hands before finding the right one and pulling it out. “The message says the father is a born vampire from Canada, and the mother a born vampire from the outskirts of Chicago. They were bonded together in 1735.”

“Thank you,” John said, nodding to Moira and waiting until she had left the room to continue. “You see, Raven, it is extremely rare that a born vampire finds their mate in another born vampire, and even rarer that they are then able to conceive a child. If they were bonded in 1735, they aren't the last born couple to do so, but this is certainly the first conception that has occurred since Wade's birth nearly seven centuries go. The fact that both parents are born vampires make the child a purebred, and therefore once the child is born, Wade will lose the title Kid to the newborn.”

“That cannot happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned,” Wade mumbled, ignoring the glare that John shot him. “Look, I understand the privilege of the title, okay? I'm just not a kid anymore. It's annoying.”

“This could not be happening at a worse time,” Hank said suddenly. “Peace with humankind is fragile enough. The rebellious group that attack the humans for fun is growing. We've had a difficult enough time hiding Wade's parentage from them. I can't see how we're going to be able to keep this new one a secret as well. You know what I'm talking about, John. We're supposed to inform them of the birth of a purebred vampire. That's what the second article of the accords is all about, and giving them that information gives them the right to open talks on amending the accords.”

John nodded, glancing around the table as everyone's binders suddenly flew open. “You should be looking at page thirteen, which is a copy of the correspondence that I have sent to the soon-to-be parents. In it, I have outlined the problems with allowing the child to remain in their care, where anyone could discover the situation. I have advised that they travel to the safe house in Chicago and await further instructions.”

“And what sort of further instruction are we going to give them?” Hank asked. “We are surviving under far different circumstances than we were when Wade was born. Information can be sent across the world quickly. Word of this is likely to spread faster than we have control of.”

“I know that, Hank.” John sat back in his chair and glanced at the clock. “That's what we have until four o'clock to figure out. The humans have appointed a new advocate, and he will be arriving then to discuss the latest round of killings. There will be no mention of this situation in the advocate's presence. And no, Wade, you cannot leave before then. You can spend tomorrow night doing whatever it is you do when you don't have to be here.”

*****

_two weeks later......_

John groaned as the phone on his bedside table began to ring, slinging an arm out to grab a hold of it and toss it across the room. He listened to it shatter against the wall before settling back into the mattress and going back to sleep.

A few moments later, another ring reached John's ears, and his eyes snapped open immediately. He threw back the bedsheets and climbed out of the bed, reaching for his white silk robe as he passed the chair it was draped upon. He slid on the robe as he walked out of the bedroom, heading down the dimly-lit hallway. He took a right turn, and then a left, before climbing up two sets of stairs and carefully opening the door at the top of them. He flinched as the warmth of the ground floor hit him, peering through the slight opening to make sure that there was no stream of sunlight in the path from where he was to his office across the room.

After determining that it was safe, he pushed the door fully open and ran towards the office, hissing as he felt the skin on the back of his neck begin to sizzle. He slammed the door of the office shut and pressed the red button on the wall next to the light switch, sighing with relief as the panels quickly covered the windows and the pain that was beginning to manifest disappeared. He stayed leaning against the door for several minutes, his chest heaving as though it was trying to catch a breath that he really didn't need.

Eventually, he pushed himself away from the wall and walked around to his desk, sitting down in the chair before reaching for the telephone as he glanced at the clock.

“It is 1:19 pm, so whatever this is, it better be good,” he growled into the phone.

“Mister Chancellor, sire, I am sorry to have awoken you. Please know that I wouldn't had it not been absolutely necessary.”

John growled again as he sat back in his chair, running a hand through his hair. “Leech, instead of wasting my time apologizing for wasting my time, why don't you just tell me why you called?”

“Of course, sire. I was alerted to an emergency at the safe house in Chicago, so I traveled as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, I arrived too late.”

“Arrived too late for what?” John asked, his tone slightly less aggravated.

“The child was born.”

John sat up straight and grabbed for his calendar, staring at the date. “That's impossible.”

“That is what I thought as well, but the staff here says that the mother arrived heavily pregnant, and since no one had informed them of how far along she was, they did not realize that should cause any alarm.”

“I will be in Chicago tomorrow to deal with the parents and their serious lack of judgment over the issue of withholding facts.” John placed his left elbow on the desk and leaned his head into his hand. “I take it the child is under the proper care?”

“Yes, sire, the child is under proper care, but there is more.”

“What more could there possibly be?”

“The parents, sire. They will not be here for you to speak with them.”

John felt another growl building but forced it back. “Why not?”

“As soon as the child was taken from their room to the nursery, the parents walked from their room and out of the building.”

This time, John did let the growl come out. “They abandoned their child at the safe house.”

“I am afraid it is worse than that, sire. Their child was born three hours after sunrise. They walked out of the building and straight into sunlight.”

John slammed his hand down on his desk. “Any witnesses?”

“Staff inside the safe house were alerted to the situation by screams from outside. No one ventured outside after them, but the police were alerted to the suicide and that there had been human witnesses. The advocate has also been informed, and will appear on television tonight discussing the event with a human psychologist.”

John sat silently for a few minutes before lowering his voice. “Tell me that the advocate does not know the complete truth about the situation.”

“I've been keeping a monitor on his thoughts, and there is nothing to concern me. The advocate is aware that the suicide took place after the birth of a child, but he has not been told that both parents were born vampires. The workers at the safe house knew better than to do that. Still, I believe the situation requires your attention. The advocate has thought of speaking with you many times today.”

“Inform the advocate that I will be in Chicago tonight to discuss the sad situation. In the meantime, make sure that child remains under constant supervision. No visits from anyone, even if they say they are there on my behalf. If I want to know something about the child, I will come discover it for myself after the meeting with the advocate.”

“Yes, sire. And again, I am sorry for waking you, sire.”

“You can make it up to me by arranging for a nice meal once I am at the Chicago residence. Something not-too-young but not-too-old and won't resist.”

“I can do that, sire. I will see you in a matter of hours.”

John hung up the phone without saying another word, then leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face. He slid his chair back and stood, wandering over to the sofa and sitting down upon it. He reached for a keypad that was sitting on the table in front of him, punching in a code and waiting.

“Mister Chancellor? Is everything alright? It seems quite early for you to be awake.”

“Moira, once the sun has set, pack a bag for travel to the residence in Chicago, and then come straight here and wake me up. I will be on the sofa in my office, and I will explain everything else to you then.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.” John shifted so he was lying down on the sofa, letting his eyes close. “Oh, and Moira?”

“Yes sir?”

“Inform Erik that I will need to speak to him as soon as possible about the purebred.”

“Of course. Anything else?”

“Tea and blood biscuits once I wake would be wonderful. A-positive.”

“Consider it taken care of. I will see you a few minutes after sundown.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Prologue cont.**

Erik felt his eyes widen in disbelief. “What the fuck, John?”

“You know how important the purebred is, Erik. I need the child with someone that I trust.”

“And that person is me? John, I've just found my mate, I've never raised a child in my life, and I really don't want to be teaching Charles how to be a vampire at the same time as managing a baby!”

“Erik,” John said seriously. “I need you to do this for me. This child is special. Every vampire in the country will know about this birth. I need this child somewhere where they are protected. You are the only one I would trust with this.”

Erik sighed as Charles walked in the room, a confused look crossing his face when he looked at Erik. “John, I should be spending my time having all sorts of glorious sex, not taking care of a child.”

“You can still have all of your glorious sex while the child is asleep, and you know as well as I do that vampire children sleep a lot. I'm serious, Erik. I need you to do this.”

Erik ran a hand through his hair and sighed again. “Can I at least talk to Charles about it first? He has as much of a say in this as I do.”

“Talk to Charles if you must, but I won't let you refuse me. You're taking in this child, Erik. That's final.”

Erik bit back a groan. “Fine. Call me later with more details.”

“I will,” John said, and the line went dead.

Erik growled in anger and knocked the phone off the bedside table. “We haven't even had our bonding ceremony yet.”

“What's wrong?” Charles asked, making his way over to Erik and sitting down next to him. “What did John want?”

“He wants us to raise the purebred child.”

Charles's eyes widened and he sat back in his chair. “I don't know anything about how to be a parent. I barely know how to be a vampire.”

“You're progressing wonderfully. It's hard to believe it's only been a month,” Erik murmured. “He's not taking no for an answer. You and I are getting saddled with a baby.”

Charles reached out and ran a hand through Erik's hair, smiling when he heard him purr appreciatively. “Is this really that bad? I mean, haven't you wanted children?”

“I have children,” Erik said. “I have sired many vampires over the years. They are my children.”

“Well, maybe I want a child.”

Erik turned to look at him, and Charles gave him a smile. “I did always want a child. Someone to inherit the Xavier family estate and the money.”

“We need to talk about that as well,” Erik said. “I've been communicating with Hank – he's the Attorney General and the best vampire lawyer in the country, if not the world – and he believes that when your mother dies that you can still claim your inheritance since you had them informed of your new life.”

“I only did that to spite my stepfather, to be honest,” Charles said, laughing. “But if I can keep my inheritance, that would be wonderful.”

“I'll get Hank to come by. He'll probably need to come by with a ton of paperwork for us for this child, and he needs to meet his stepfather too.”

“Stepfather?”

“Hank is one of the vampires I sired,” Erik said. “In fact, he was the first one I sired.”

“Then I look forward to meeting him.” Charles squeezed Erik's arm. “It'll be alright, Erik. We can do this.”

“I'm making John speed up our bonding ceremony. If we're going to have a child, I at least want to be bonded to you first.”

Charles leaned forward and kissed Erik softly. “I can't wait.”

“Alright, we need to get out of here and go shopping,” Erik said, standing up. “As much as I love you in my clothes, you need your own wardrobe.”

“They brought my stuff here,” Charles pointed out. “I have my clothes.”

Erik smiled. “I've seen those clothes, Charles, and I must ask you what on earth you were doing wearing tweed jackets.”

“I was studying to be a geneticist,” Charles said. “And I like my tweed jackets.”

“Not anymore,” Erik said, shaking his head. “I'm going to burn those things. We are going shopping, and we are getting you new clothes. You certainly weren't wearing tweed the night I chose you.”

“Well, no,” Charles said, standing up. “Those were my clubbing clothes.”

“Those were good clothes,” Erik said, pulling Charles close to him. “Tight-fitting and oh so sexy. That's how I want you. That's how I fell in love with you.”

Charles smiled softly. “You love me?”

“Of course I do,” Erik said, pulling Charles into a sweet kiss. “I've loved you since the moment I saw you.”

“Good,” Charles murmured, “because I love you too.”

“I know,” Erik said, bringing his hand up to brush a lock of hair behind Charles's ear. “You fell in love with me the moment you saw me. That's how this works.”

Charles leaned forward and kissed Erik deeper, and Erik's hands started to slide underneath Charles's shirt until he caught himself and pulled away. “Shopping, Charles. We're going shopping.”

“Oh, alright,” Charles said, leaning his head on Erik's shoulder. “I'll let you dress me up like your sexy young lover.”

“Thank you,” Erik said.

“But I won't let you burn the tweed,” Charles stated. “You never know when I'll need it.”

Erik shook his head. “We will get you perfectly tailored, vampire-appropriate suits. There will never be a need for tweed.”

Charles pouted, and Erik bent down to kiss him thoroughly. “Trust me,” Erik said.

“I do,” Charles mumbled. “It's just...that was my life for so long.”

“And this is your life now,” Erik pointed out. “And I'm telling you, there is no need for tweed anything. I know it's hard to separate the two, but you need to forget about your human life, Charles. There is no going back.”

“I know,” Charles said. “And I don't want to go back. I don't think I could ever return to that life, not after being with you.”

“Well, do not worry, you are not going anywhere.”

“Except shopping.”

“Except shopping,” Erik echoed, leading Charles out of the room. “My tailor is excellent. He'll have you fitted for a new wardrobe in no time.”

“How am I supposed to pay for it? All of my accounts have been closed since the world thinks I'm dead.”

Erik just smiled at him. “Oh, money is no object. I have been saving for over a thousand years, you know.”

Charles laughed. “I suppose so. And how do you make this money?”

“I'm the New York Premier,” Erik said as they walked into the garage. “Being in politics pays well.”

“I think I need a few lessons in vampire politics, because I have no idea what that means.”

“I'll teach you, don't worry.”

*****

“The child is settled with Erik and Charles,” Moira said, reading from the papers in her hands. “Erik has asked if the child has a name.”

John quickly folded the letter in his hands. “Logan.”

“Excuse me?” Moira said.

“The child's name is Logan,” John answered, glancing up. “Logan Howlett.”

Moira quickly scribbled down a note. “I'll inform Erik of that. And the parents' names are Elizabeth and John Howlett, correct?”

John opened his mouth to correct her then stopped himself. “Yes, that is correct.”

“I'll make sure that is all on the appropriate paperwork,” Moira said, scribbling out another note. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“That is all,” John said, waving her away. “Finish the work tomorrow. Go home for the night.”

“Of course,” Moira said, walking out of the office and closing the door. 

John waited until the lights dimmed and he heard Moira leave before he unfolded the letter in his hands once more. The letter was handwritten by Elizabeth Howlett, and it was an explanation of everything that had happened, from the conception of the child to the suicides of herself and her husband.

And inside the letter was a secret that John had to keep very, very, very closely guarded. So closely guarded that no one could ever find out. Because if someone ever found out the truth about the child......

John refused to allow himself to go down that train of thought. No one would ever suspect anything, and if there was one thing he was good at, it was keeping secrets. 

John glanced over the letter one last time before opening the bottom drawer of his desk, removing all of its contents and popping open the false bottom. He placed the letter from Elizabeth Howlett inside, replaced the false bottom, whispered the protections back into place, and replaced the contents of the drawer. He sat back in his chair, ran his hands over his face, and then stood. 

He needed some whiskey badly, and there was a nice bottle of B-positive waiting for him in his cabinet at home.

*****

Erik walked into the room where Charles was, and the words he was about to say died upon his lips. Charles was sat up in bed, back resting against the headboard, the child in his arms, and they were both asleep. Erik leaned up against the doorframe and just watched them for awhile, a smile crossing his face. He didn't want to raise this child, knew he didn't have the patience for a real baby as opposed to a newly-turned adult, but just looking at Charles with the child was changing his mind.

It was obvious that Charles was perfect for this. It had been less than forty-eight hours and already Charles was a natural father. 

“Erik.”

Erik turned around to find Hank standing behind him, and Erik quickly moved him away from the room. “In the library.”

Hank nodded and followed him there, and once they were inside and Erik closed the door behind them, Hank held up a telegram. “I heard from Moira.”

“And?”

“And the child's name is Logan Howlett,” Hank said, and Erik let that sink in.

“Logan.”

“Yes.”

Erik smiled. “I think Charles is going to love that.”

Hank smiled back at him. “Charles is great, Erik. He really is. I can't wait for the rest of the family to meet him.”

“Well, everyone is going to have to gather for the bonding ceremony and to meet their new brother,” Erik said, walking over to an armchair and sitting down, motioning for Hank to do the same. “I've sent messages. We'll see how many of you all listen.”

“I'm sure everyone will,” Hank said, sitting down next to him. “We all know how long that you've been looking for him.”

“I haven't even been able to tell Charles completely about all of you yet. I'd only gotten to Raven and I hadn't even finished.”

Hank just shook his head. “Erik, you have the rest of eternity for that.”

“I know,” Erik sighed. “I just wanted him to know everything before he met everyone.”

“Yeah, well, blame the parents that abandoned this child for that,” Hank said. “John really didn't have much of a choice but to give the child to you to be raised. You're the most senior politician in the country with a partner.”

“I sincerely hope you did not say that in John's presence.”

“Of course I didn't mention John's ongoing search for his mate,” Hank laughed. “I happen to enjoy my head still being attached to my body.”

Erik chuckled. “I know he's happy for me, but deep down, I know he's furious that I found Charles just the same.”

“Do you think he still has hope?”

“I'd like to think so,” Erik said. “But I was starting to lose mine when I found Charles, so who knows.”

They sat there for a moment before Hank broke the silence. “I know that raising this child is not something you necessarily want to do.”

“Hank.”

“You barely had patience for the twins when you turned them, and they were almost adults.”

“Henry.”

“But I think this will be good for you. And I'm looking forward to having a little brother.”

Erik sighed heavily. “It's not that I don't want to.”

“Except it's that you don't want to,” Hank said. “You can't lie to me, Erik. We're both too old for that to work.”

Erik looked over at Hank and after a moment he relented. “Alright, so I'd much rather be enjoying my time with Charles by having it just being me and Charles. But I'll survive. The child will be grown quickly enough.”

“And you can send it off to school,” Hank said. “Just like you did with everyone else.”

Erik laughed. “Good point, Hank. Excellent point.”

**.end prologue**


	4. Chapter 4

_Washington D.C., 16 July 2298_

“I'm bored.”

Raven rolled her eyes and shot a look in Logan's direction. “You're always bored whenever your parents aren't around, Kid. And you always leave early, and you always miss your chance to choose someone because of your lameness.”

“Pardon me for finding Charles and Erik to be far more fascinating than any other vampires I've ever met,” Logan countered back. “And I don't understand why I have to choose someone in the first place. I have somehow survived through three hundred and thirty-six years without choosing someone and I am more than willing to spend the rest of eternity without having to go through such an archaic process.”

“John should be the most fascinating vampire that you've ever met.” Raven shook her head and reached out to shove at Logan's shoulder. “And it's not an archaic process, it's how we find mates. God, don't you ever want to have sex?”

Logan laughed. “Just because you are choosing to save yourself for your so-called soul mate doesn't mean that the rest of us are sitting around here as celibate as you are. I have plenty of sex, thank you very much.”

“No, you get baby vamps who are so in awe of your purebred status that they would do absolutely anything for you to suck your dick. That is completely different to what I'm talking about.”

“Jean's not like that.”

“Jean is human. She is not your girlfriend and she's definitely not your mate.”

Logan huffed. “Jean and I have plenty of sex, thank you very much.”

“Yeah, and every time you do, you have to hold back because you know if you don't, you're going to hurt her. Or, even worse, bite her.”

Logan swallowed hard. “Why would biting her be such a bad thing?”

Raven nearly dropped her glass at the tone of Logan's voice. “You've bitten her?! Tell me that she has not tasted a single drop of your blood.”

Logan stayed silent and refused to meet Raven's gaze, causing Raven to sigh heavily. “Are you a fucking idiot?! I sincerely hope that no one else – especially John – finds out about that, and that you don't end up knocking her up. And not just for your sake, but hers too.”

“Vampires can't knock up humans.”

“They can after a blood bond has been made,” Raven said seriously. “And all it takes is a tiny drop of each other's blood to form a blood bond.”

Logan reached for his drink and downed the contents, barely getting the glass set back on the table before the waitress tending to them had it refilled. “Are you sure?”

“Yes I'm motherfucking sure!” Raven exclaimed. “Physical Interaction Between Humans and Vampires, year 22! It stressed blood bonds and the ways they are formed extensively! Didn't you fucking pay attention?”

“Um, not really,” Logan mumbled. “I kind of coasted through the last couple of decades of school, had others doing my homework and getting the answers to the tests from the mind of that really smart girl that always sat two rows in front of me.”

“Of course you did, you fucking spoiled purebred,” Raven grumbled, perking up when a familiar face walked through the club's doors. “There he is.”

Logan glanced in the door's direction, rolling his eyes when he saw the guy Raven had been watching for nearly a year walk in. “So when are you going to choose him?”

“I'm not sure he's the right one,” Raven said honestly. “I mean, there's been a lot of guys over the years, but I've never thought that any of them were the one.”

Logan reached for his glass and knocked his drink back, smiling at the waitress as she began refilling it before he even had the glass on the table. “But you've never followed any of them for as long as you have been following this one.”

“I know,” Raven sighed in frustration. “This is why I desperately need to talk to Erik. I need him to tell me how he knew Charles was the one. When are they coming home?”

“I think you are definitely over-thinking this,” Logan said, leaning back in his chair and propping up his feet. “You're desperate alright. Desperate for someone to call your own.”

“Shut up Logan,” Raven said, glaring at him. “This is a decision about who I am going to spend eternity with. It's not one to take lightly. I'm nearing five hundred and I would like to find my mate already.”

“Erik waited until he was over a thousand before he chose Charles,” Logan pointed out.

“Erik also has the patience of a saint. That's the only reason that he's always kept his door open to Wade, even when the rest of us shut him out,” Raven countered back.

“Speaking of which, I heard John kicked Wade out again.”

Raven sighed heavily and reached for a cigarette. “Hank was there, said the argument between John and Wade was pretty bad.”

“What did they argue about this time?”

“Moira,” Raven said, lighting the cigarette and slowly exhaling the smoke. “Wade cannot stand her, not that that's news. He thinks John should fire her for being incompetent, despite the fact that Moira has worked for John for almost a century. The usual nonsense, basically. I believe this time it kicked off because Moira dared to look him in the eyes.”

“Moira never does anything to him,” Logan said softly. “Wade needs to chill the fuck out.”

“He's eight hundred and thirty-two years old. I think he's beyond learning much of anything.”

“Well, can't Vanessa calm him down? She gets along well enough with Moira.”

“A fact that Wade cannot stand,” Raven said, taking another drag off her cigarette. “He fights with Vanessa about that all the time.”

“Fighting with one's soul mate? I would think that should not be possible,” Logan said sarcastically.

Raven just laughed. “It's Wade. Anything is possible.”

“True,” Logan agreed, “very true.”

The door opened and suddenly there was another presence behind them, this one much stronger than either of them. Without even looking back, they both said in unison, “Hello John.”

“Good evening,” John said, taking the seat to Raven's right and holding out his hand, smiling when a drink was immediately pressed into it. “How are the sights so far this evening?”

“Logan's bored,” Raven said, searching the dance floor with her eyes until they fell upon her man again. “Mine's here.”

“The Kid is bored? What else is new?” John said, bringing the glass to his lips and sipping at it. “B-positive whiskey?”

“Raven felt like something different,” Logan mumbled, polishing off his drink and then waving off the waitress. “I'm going home.”

“You're boring and predictable, Kid,” John said, turning his head to look at him. “One of these days, someone's going to walk through that door that makes you want to stay.”

Logan gave him a skeptical look. “Unlikely. Good evening.”

“Wait! When are your parents coming back? I really do need to talk to Erik.” Raven took another drag off her cigarette as Logan paused at the door, her eyes never leaving the man on the dance floor.

“Despite the fact everyone considers them my parents, that does not make me their fucking secretary. You want to know when he'll be back, ask him your fucking self.”

John shook his head as the door quickly opened then closed, Logan's presence disappearing from the room. “He's still stuck in that rebellious phase. I really thought he would have grown out of that by now. However, I think we have a couple more centuries of it. It's different with purebreds. Wade finally grew out of his around his five hundredth birthday.”

“That doesn't mean he has to be so fucking rude.”

“Yes, it does,” John said seriously, glancing in Raven's direction. “As far as his parents are concerned, Charles should be home from Germany tomorrow. Erik's trip to Turkey has been extended due to unforeseen difficulties when it comes to the negotiations over the Turkish ratification of the new constitutional laws that they want to put in place.”

“Oh,” Raven said, reaching for her drink. “I guess I'll have to wait then.”

John reached out and plucked the cigarette from Raven's hand. “The humans say these things will kill you, you know.”

“It's a good thing I'm already dead then, isn't it?” Raven laughed, snatching it back.

John smiled as he sipped at his drink, watching the writhing bodies below them. “I know that I am not your maker, Raven, and I understand that there are just some things that one has to speak to their maker about, but perhaps I could help with whatever it is you need to speak to Erik about?”

Raven stared at the dance floor for a few minutes before turning her gaze to John. “What if he is not the one, John? What if I choose him and I'm not supposed to?”

“If he was the one you were supposed to choose, you would have known by now.”

“You think?”

“I have seen it happen many times. I was around for all those long centuries when Erik was looking for his mate,” John said, putting a comforting hand on Raven's shoulder. “There were many times when he felt just the way you do right now. But then one night Charles walked through that door. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Erik sat straight up, dropped his drink, and almost went into a trance staring at him. That's what it's like when your soul knows it has found its mate.”

“But what if it's not like that for everyone?”

“It is,” John said, taking another sip of his drink. “The moment they walk through that door, Raven, you will know.”

“What if he never walks through the door?” Raven asked timidly.

John sighed and took a longer drink. “You must not give up hope, Raven. It is not up to us to decide when our mates show up. That is up to the fates themselves.”

“So you haven't given up hope then? I think I would have if I was as old as you are,” Raven said, then immediately clamped her hand over her mouth. “Fuck, I didn't mean that.”

John cast a seething glare in her direction and briefly bared his fangs before the burst of anger subsided and he leaned back in his chair. “I have waited for thousands of years, and I will continue to wait because I have faith in the fates. If you lose faith in the fates, I do not see a point to life. Besides, I have plenty of other things to occupy me in the absence of a soul mate. Like keeping Wade in order.”

“Is he coming to the meeting tomorrow night?” Raven asked softly.

“I have no idea. I've been speaking with Vanessa but all she had to say was that Wade was so furious he was even shutting her out, so I suppose no one but Wade himself is aware of whether he's coming to the meeting or not.” John sighed heavily. “I would venture a guess that he's not, but only based upon his past behavior in such moments.”

“Doesn't he know that he sort of needs to be there for this one? I mean, he's the Floridian Premier now.”

“I would hope that he recognizes the importance of the entire parliament being present for the ratification of the new constitutional laws, but one can never be certain when it comes to Wade Wilson. I fully expect that if he doesn't come, Vanessa will be there as his regent.”

“But if Erik is still in Turkey, the entire parliament won't be there.”

John turned to Raven with a smile. “When Erik took up the position of Trade Representative, that meant that Charles, as his spouse, could no longer be regent in his absence. So he signed paperwork making you his official regent about fifty years ago. We've just never been in a situation where it has been necessary. Tomorrow night, we will be.”

Raven stared at John in disbelief. “He never told me.”

“I know. That is the way he wanted it. For anything more than that, you will need to speak to your maker.”

“I'm nervous now.”

John shook his head and turned his gaze back to the dance floor. “All you have to do is put your signature on a designated line. Nothing to be nervous about. Now have another drink and watch the humans look like fools.”

“They're dancing.”

John laughed. “That is not what we called dancing in my day, but my day is through. It would be nice if I could find a mate that is old fashioned, but I suppose that is asking too much nowadays.”

“You never know.” Raven turned her attention back to the crowd. “Even though you say he's not the one, I wish I knew his name. It would make me feel a little less stupid for wasting so much time on him.”

John's eyes closed and he focused his attention to where the man was standing near the bar talking to friends. After a moment, he opened his eyes and glanced in Raven's direction. “His name is Christian, he is twenty-two years old, a university student studying medieval literature, and he is a blood cocaine addict. You are much better off without him.”

“Blood cocaine?” Raven asked. “I've never heard of that.”

“It went out of style for a number of decades as humans experimented with methamphetamines, but it is beginning to return to the world's drug culture.”

“That still doesn't tell me what it is.”

John stared at Raven for a moment before raising his right hand and holding out his palm. “Cocaine,” he ordered, and a moment later, a small glass vial full of white powder was placed in his hand.

Raven watched as John opened the vial and poured its contents onto the table between them, using the lid to form it into a line. “I know what cocaine looks like, John.”

“I am well aware of that, Raven,” John said, setting the vial to the side. “I am showing you how to make blood cocaine. All it takes is a drop.”

John brought his index finger to his mouth and nipped at it, drawing a small amount of blood onto his fingertip. He moved the finger over the line of cocaine and watched as the blood slowly dropped onto it.

Raven's jaw dropped as the blood was absorbed by the powder, turning it blood red but leaving it as dry as it had been before the blood had been added. “How?”

“There are many things that vampire blood can do, most of which are inexplicable from a scientific standpoint,” John said, bringing his finger back to his mouth and licking at the small wound until it closed. “They've been studying it for centuries, Raven, and the human scientists are no closer to figuring it out than they were when they first got their hands on our blood.”

Raven reached out and ran her finger through the powder, then brought her finger up to stare at it. She opened her mouth slightly and started to move her finger towards her lips, but before she could move her finger a millimeter, John had a vice grip on her wrist.

“Do not taste it. Human drugs are not for our consumption, not even when they have been saturated with our blood.” Raven nodded and John called out for a glass of water, plunging Raven's hand into it once it appeared on the table. “Never let anyone know that you know how to make that, especially not a human and even more so especially not your maker.”

“Yes, sir,” Raven said as John wiped her wet hand off with a cloth. “Can I ask something about it?”

“If you must.”

“What does our blood do to humans? Why are they adding it into their drugs?”

John dropped the cloth into the glass of water, then used it to wipe the rest of the cocaine from the table. He stuffed the dirty cloth into the glass and picked it up, murmuring thanks when it was immediately snatched from his hands. “To be honest with you, Raven, I cannot completely answer that. It varies from human to human. It can enhance sexual experiences, make them see things that are not there, send them as high as a kite, or help them sleep, among what I'm sure is many other things. It's not my concern what our blood does to a human. It is my concern that the vampires who are supplying them with our blood are stopped. And we have officially talked too much about this, so no more.”

Raven nodded and turned back towards the dance floor, spotting Christian grinding against some girl. “I know you say I'm better off without him, but I just really want a mate, John. I want to feel loved.”

John reached towards his drink and finished it off. “You're not the only one, Raven. Definitely not.”

**********

_Washington D.C., 17 July 2298_

Moira looked back at the man standing in front of her desk before knocking on the door in front of her. "Mister Chancellor?"

"Enter."

Moira paused a moment before opening the door and walking inside the dark, black office. "There is someone here."

"So find out what they want and send them away," John said roughly, the tall back of his chair blocking him from Moira's view. "That's what I pay you for."

"I know, sir, but this is different," Moira said, closing her eyes to keep her composure before giving in and running her nails along the inside of her arm. "He's human, he has three silver chains and a silver cross pendant around his neck, and I cannot be around him. The itch has already begun and the back of my neck is warming."

John spun his chair around so he was looking at Moira, taking in the fear on her face. "Take the rest of the night off. I will deal with the foolish human. But make yourself an appointment with the doctor, Moira. Your lack of immunity towards silver is going to be a real problem one of these days.”

"Thank you, sir," Moira said, turning towards the door before stopping and looking back at John. "Just don't kill him in the office, please. The cleaning crew have been bitching about how much blood they've had to deal with lately."

John just laughed. "Silly mortals and their feelings towards blood. Oh, they amuse me. Send the human in and go home."

"Yes, sir," Moira said. "Thank you."

John reached for his tea as Moira quickly disappeared and the human slowly walked into the office. He sensed the blood running through the human's veins before he looked up, noting with some surprise that there was something different about it compared to the other humans he interacted with. It smelled more like...John shook his head to drop that train of thought and looked up, nearly dropping the cup in his hands, managing to stop himself before he looked like a fool.

The human was the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen.

John tried to maintain his composure as he set the cup in its saucer, and the human jumped when he heard the loud clank of the porcelain. John felt the waves of nervousness pass over him. "There is no need to be nervous."

The human swallowed hard as John pointed to a chair, and he quickly moved to sit in it. "Sorry," he managed. "I've never been around a vampire before."

"Kind of obvious," John said, unable to tear his eyes away from the young man in front of him. "So what brings you to my office?"

The human took a moment before beginning to speak. "I was looking for a job. I haven't been able to find one since I graduated from college, and the receptionist at this job placement agency I went to said that she wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it, but that I could probably find one in the vampire world."

John stared at him for several minutes, trying to draw the memory from the human's mind, but only finding flashes of running through trees in the moonlight. His curiosity piqued, John let himself move deeper into the human's mind. "Was her name Carol?"

The human nodded, oblivious to the fact John was probing his mind, and John gave him a soft smile. "Did she give you this address?"

The human nodded again as John discovered more flashes of the same sort of situations, then came across one that was so startling he immediately withdrew from the human's mind. "Carol is one of my human contacts,” he said, using his years of experience to keep his voice calm and steady. “She sends the interesting ones my way, so she obviously saw something interesting in you. What did you study at university?"

"Political science," the human replied. "I had planned on working for the President, but I interned for Senator Kelly during the summer of my junior year and realized that all the good I had imagined I'd be doing was more of a dream than reality. And once the war started, I knew that I'd made the right decision. I don't believe that bombs and bloodshed is a way to achieve peace."

"Wise choice," John said. "Did Carol tell you anything about this office?"

"Just that she thought I'd fit in well. She didn't even tell me your name."

"Good girl," John said under his breath, then reached for his teacup. "My name is John Allerdyce. In the world of vampire politics, I am the Chancellor of the country."

The human took that information in and nodded. "Are vampire politics similar to human politics?"

"In some ways. In others, they are very different. You will need to learn the differences.”

“I can do that.”

“Normally, humans are of little use to me. However, there's something about you that is making me think otherwise, and so therefore I am offering you a position. The specifics will be worked out later, but first, there are certain criteria that must be agreed to."

John felt a wave of relief flow over him as the human nodded. "Criteria. Of course."

"To start, the silver chains and cross have to go."

The human's eyes widened and he reached towards his neck. "Fuck, I didn't even think of that. I'm just so used to wearing them. Is that why the other one..."

"Moira gets nervous whenever any human comes into the office, but yes, the silver around your neck affected her, and if you are going to be working here, I can't be sending her home with an allergic reaction to your chains everyday."

"You'll never see them again, I promise."

"Good. Secondly, the office is only open from sundown to sunrise, so you will be expected to observe those hours."

"Not a problem."

"In this position, you will learn things about the vampire culture that humans do not know and things that we don't want the humans to know. The lawyers will want a confidentiality agreement signed, but I come from a time where a verbal agreement was just as binding as a written one, so I will want to hear you agree to keep everything you will learn here to yourself. And should you ever break that confidentiality agreement, I will enjoy dining on your blood after I have ripped your heart out. Is that clear?”

“Completely clear,” the human said nervously. “But I swear to you, I will never speak of what goes on in this office outside of these doors.”

John nodded. “Excellent. Be here within an hour of sundown tomorrow and I will have Moira help you fill out all the required paperwork because she knows far more about all those intergovernmental forms than I do.”

“I will be here then,” the human said, standing up when John did. “Thank you so much, Mister Chancellor. I really needed this job.”

“Well, hopefully you will give me plenty of reasons not to regret giving it to you,” John said, holding out his hand. “Enjoy the rest of your evening, Mister...”

“Drake,” the man said quickly, reaching out to shake John's hand. “Robert Drake, please just call me Bobby, and I totally should have told you that as soon as I walked into your office.”

John felt the warmth of Bobby's hand in his, and the smile he gave him was genuine. “Well, at least I know it now. I will see you tomorrow night, Bobby.”

Bobby nodded and let go of John's hand. “Have a nice evening, Mister Chancellor.”

John watched him walk out of his office, waiting until he heard the front door open and then close before collapsing into his chair. He reached under his desk and pressed the button that was there, listening intently as the doors and windows locked and the lights on the floor dimmed. He leaned back in the chair and ran his hands over his face, unable to get the young man out of his mind. He sat there for what felt like hours, going over every detail in his head, from the difference of his blood to his deep blue eyes to the images he had drawn from his head. He was beyond intrigued with him, certain that the strength of his feelings towards Bobby was not a coincidence, but that final image in the young man's head made him pause.

Eventually, he reached towards the keyboard that sat on his desk and brought up a blank email. He stared at it for a minute before finally putting his thoughts into words on the screen.

**Erik (and I suppose Charles as well since I know you'll tell him immediately) –**

**Get me a list of known or suspected shape shifters in the D.C. area. As quickly as possible. I'll explain later.**

**John**

He sent the email and stood up, reaching to grab his jacket before walking out of the office. What he needed right now was the cavernous sanctuary that was the library in his house, a gigantic bottle of bloodwine, and time to think about the young man he'd just hired.

The young man whose soul he'd instantly recognized.


	5. Chapter 5

_New York City, 22 July 2298_

“Your skin reminds me of porcelain. Pale and smooth.”

Logan sighed softly and shifted onto his back, pulling Jean close to his chest. “We've done something that seriously violates vampiric law.”

Jean laughed. “You've been saying that since the first night we slept together.”

“That's because vampires aren't supposed to maintain contact with humans,” Logan said, reaching up to run his hands over his face. “This is much worse. So, so, so much worse. I did research while I was supposed to be sleeping today and I think there's a possibility that I could get staked over this.”

Jean shifted so she was looking down at him. “Staked? Okay, you have completely lost me. What could we possibly have done that's so bad?”

Logan reached up towards Jean's face, caressing her cheek softly. “Explaining this to you will probably violate another five hundred laws, but you need to know. You need to know what it is I've gotten you into.”

“You're starting to scare me, Logan.”

“When I was at the club with Raven the other night, we got on the subject of soul mates and all that archaic nonsense, and eventually you came up because you always do whenever I start talking about soul mates with Raven because it's never actually about soul mates, it's about sex.”

“You talk about our sex life with another vampire?”

“I reference that it exists,” Logan said, sliding his fingers into her hair. “Look, we've made a blood bond and that is so illegal that I can't even begin to explain to you just how illegal that is, and I've been avoiding my parents because I am ninety-nine point nine percent certain that they'll be able to tell just by looking at me.”

Jean stared down at him, confusion across her face. “A blood bond?”

“I have tasted your blood and you have tasted mine. That creates a blood bond.”

“When on earth did I taste yo—” Jean cut herself off and shook her head. “The night you caught your lip on your fang, right? God, that only drew a ridiculously small drop of blood, Logan. You have to be wrong. There's no way some sort of bond could be formed from such a small drop of blood.”

“That's all it takes,” Logan said softly. “One tiny drop of each other's blood. Blood bonds between a vampire and a human are only ever made when a vampire has found their mate but the mate is not ready to be turned. And I'm sorry, Jean, I know you keep trying to convince me otherwise, but you are not my mate. Therefore, the fact that we have a blood bond is a serious, serious problem.”

Jean sighed and collapsed onto the mattress next to him. “I'm not having this mate argument again. And are you sure we have a blood bond? Because nothing feels different to me.”

“It won't feel different to you. You're the human in the bond,” Logan said, rolling onto his side so he could look at her. “But I can feel your presence at all times. I never really noticed it until Raven helped me figure out that we'd made one. It's not a strong presence, and I think that's because we're not mates. But if I concentrate, I can feel you at all times.”

“And that's a problem.”

“Yes, a major one. We're bonded for the rest of your life, Jean. I will feel you until you die.”

Jean reached out and grabbed Logan's hand, squeezing it lightly. “So if someone found out, what would happen?”

“To me? A whole bunch of stuff that I am not allowed to explain to you.”

Jean brought Logan's hand to her lips, kissing it softly. “Is that because you're some vampire prince or whatever it is?”

“Right,” Logan said. “But we need to talk about what could happen to you. From what I've read, the Chancellor has two options to choose from.”

“And those are?”

Logan leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “The Chancellor can choose to turn you into one of us.”

“Or?”

Logan shook his head and turned away from her. “No.”

Jean moved closer to him, pinning Logan's arms to the bed. “Tell me, Logan. What's the other option?”

“Death,” Logan whispered, refusing to look Jean in the eyes. “Someone other than me would kill you, and they would do it in front of me. And because of the bond, I would feel everything that you feel. The pain, the fear, anything else that you're feeling until the moment you die, and then your presence would be gone forever.”

Jean let go of Logan and slowly laid back on the mattress. “Those are the only options?”

“They won't allow you to live. You know too much about us, our lifestyle, everything.”

Jean turned to look at him. “What about us? What can we do to keep all of this from happening?”

“Hope that no one ever notices. And that Raven keeps her mouth shut.”

“No,” Jean said strongly. “There has to be something else.”

“Yeah, well, there's not.”

They laid there in silence for a long time, Logan contently listening to the sound of Jean's breathing. “I'm sorry I got you messed up in this. I should have resisted the night that we met, but there was just something about you.”

Jean took a deep breath. “Turn me.”

Logan whipped his head around to look at her like she was crazy. “Excuse me?”

“Turn me,” Jean repeated, looking at Logan. “If I'm no longer human, we can't get in trouble for this blood bond thing, right?”

Logan shook his head. “Jean, you don't know what you're asking me to do.”

“Yes, I do,” Jean said. “You have told me a hell of a lot about what it's like to be a vampire over the past few years, Logan. I'm not going into this blindly.”

Logan sighed when Jean tangled their fingers together, squeezing them lightly. “You'll be giving up everything you know for an eternity of blood.”

“I'm an emergency room nurse, Logan. I'm not going to have any issues with blood.”

“No more laying on the beach on a warm summer's day. No more chocolate ice cream. No more contact with your family. No growing old and curling up on a porch swing with your husband, watching the grandchildren play in the yard. Every dream you've ever told me about will no longer be possible.”

Jean was quiet for a moment, then nodded her head. “I know. But if everything you've just told me is true, then I'm going to lose all of that anyway. I would rather have the end of my life be my choice than be the decision of your chancellor. So I will say it again. Turn me, Logan.”

Jean gasped as Logan was suddenly hovering over her, the hunger in his eyes stronger than usual. “Technically, I'm not allowed to turn humans until I turn four hundred, which is in sixty-four years.”

“We can't wait sixty-four years.”

“No,” Logan said, growling softly. “We can't. I've broken so many laws for you. I might as well break one more.”

Jean reached up and moved her hair away from her neck, tilting her head to the side and giving Logan access to it. “You do know how to do this, right?”

“If I didn't, I wouldn't be doing this to you,” Logan said, bending down to kiss her neck softly. “I'll see you when you wake up. Close your eyes.”

“Okay,” Jean said, letting her eyes slip closed.

Logan stared at her for a moment before smiling. “Your skin is going to be like porcelain now, you know.”

Jean laughed as Logan's fangs grazed her neck, then gasped as they sank into her skin and the world went black.

*****

_Westchester, NY, 22 July 2298_

“The Germans want provisions added about how old a vampire must be before their blood can be used to make bloodbeer,” Charles said as he followed Erik through the doorway. “I understand their concerns, especially given how potent a newborn's blood can be, but honestly, to me this is an issue that should be solved within their own council, not something that needs to be ratified in the new constitution. With this new addition, every country that has already ratified the changes will have to ratify it again.”

“Right,” Erik said distractedly, his eyes sweeping over the entry way.

“You're not even listening to me, are you?”

“Age provisions for bloodbeer,” Erik mumbled, glancing over his shoulder at Charles. “Do you feel that?”

Charles looked at him like he was crazy. “Feel what?”

“Close your eyes and tell me if you can feel something different than usual.”

Charles took off his jacket and tossed it onto the back of the sofa, then closed his eyes and let his senses extend, doing a sweep of the house. He was about to say that he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary when it suddenly hit him. “Upstairs. Fourth floor. Small storage room at the end of the hall with no windows. Two of them. Who are they?”

“One is a newborn,” Erik said, starting to walk towards the staircase. “Not more than a few hours old.”

Charles followed him up the stairs. “Why is there a baby in our house? Tell me that some idiot parents didn't abandon their baby at the safe house again.”

Erik stayed silent, his sense of the newborn's presence growing as he got closer. “That's no baby. Not newborn, but newly turned. Fully grown adult. Can't get a read on the other one. The presence is going in and out.”

“I have absolutely no idea how you can tell all of that stuff and I can't. I thought I was supposed to grow into those abilities.”

“I'm almost a thousand years older than you, Charles, and I was only just starting to be able to clarify my senses when we met,” Erik said, coming to a stop. “Can we talk about this later? Right now, we need to figure out what is going on.”

Charles nodded. “I'm sure Logan can explain it to us.”

“Logan?” Erik said quizzically.

“Well, he's in the room with them, so I imagine that he knows what is going on.”

“Logan is in the room with...” Erik trailed off as he concentrated on the whereabouts of his adopted son. “You're sure about that?”

“Can't you feel him?” Charles asked, seeking out the room again. “He's definitely in there.”

Erik let out a loud growl and sprinted up the rest of the stairs, running down the hall and approaching the room in question, pausing outside its door. “He's blocking me. He doesn't want me to know where he is. So why is he not blocking you?”

Charles shook his head and pulled Erik away from the door. “I don't know, but maybe I should go in first.”

Erik stared at him for a moment before nodding. “I will be in the library. But I want to know what is going on immediately.”

“Of course,” Charles said, leaning in to give him a kiss before pushing him down the hallway. “Now go.”

He waited until Erik had disappeared around a corner before turning to the door and knocking softly. “Logan?” Charles didn't get a verbal response, but he could tell that Logan had given him permission to enter. He opened the door softly and walked into the pitch black of the room, reaching for the light switch once the door was closed. He blinked his eyes a few times to get used to the sudden light, and then widened them as he took in the scene before him.

Logan was sitting on the floor, the shirt he was wearing ripped to nothing more than shreds. Next to him was a makeshift bed of boxes and pillows, a red-haired woman lying across it. Logan's right hand was firmly holding the woman's left, and his left hand was pressed against the neck of a motionless blond man that was on the floor next to him. Logan looked up at Charles and Charles took in all the emotions reflected in them before stepping forward and dropping to his knees.

“Tell me what happened.”

Logan glanced towards the woman. “I had to turn her, and she was so thirsty when she woke up, so we had to go find someone for her to feed off of,” he said, nodding towards the man. “She bit him before I could explain to her how to know when to stop, and then they both collapsed and I didn't know what to do, and we were in the middle of this alley and I just wished that we were somewhere private so I could figure out what to do, and then I felt really dizzy and blacked out, and I woke up here with both of them. I wasn't even sure of where I was until I sensed around and realized we were in the mansion. Charles, we were in the city and somehow we ended up here in the mansion. I'm so confused.”

Charles stared at him for a moment, then shook his head and reached for the man. “Logan, I just...I don't know what to make of you sometimes. You have a lot of explaining to do, but I will spare you the trouble of having to do it twice, so that can wait until later when Erik is with us. Right now, we need to tend to them. She's fully turned?”

“Yes,” Logan said, “but she's been unconscious since we were in the alley.”

Charles nodded and reached for the man's wrist, relieved to feel a pulse but realizing that he was very, very close to death. “Has he been coming in and out of consciousness?”

Logan nodded quickly. “I don't know how to save him, and I can't turn him unless he asks me, and he keeps mumbling about fucking vampires whenever he's awake.”

Charles sighed and closed his eyes, focusing his attention on Erik. _Emergency. I need permission to make a temporary blood bond. I'll explain later._

_A blood bond?! Permission granted, Charles, but you are explaining this the moment I see you again._

Charles opened his eyes and bent over the man, baring his fangs and gently biting into the man's neck, drinking as small an amount of blood as he could, noting the odd taste of it. He heard the man hiss as he pulled back, and he glanced over to Logan as he brought his wrist to his mouth. “Hold his mouth open.”

Charles bit into his wrist, gathering some of his own blood into his mouth before bending down and letting it drip into the man's open mouth. The man moaned as the blood hit his tongue, and Charles sat up, licking his lips. “Hold his mouth closed. He can't spit it out or the bond won't form.”

Logan nodded and did as Charles told him, glancing back towards the woman. “What about Jean?”

“Jean?!” Charles exclaimed, reaching out and forcing Logan to look at him. “How many times did I tell you that you could not stay in contact with her?”

“I know but I just...” Logan said meekly. “I'm sorry, Charles.”

“I don't know what has gone on to cause this situation, Logan, but something tells me that an 'I'm sorry' is not going to be enough to fix it,” Charles said, sighing with relief as he sensed the man's pulse start to quicken. “Be glad we got home when we did. A few more minutes and he really would have been dead, and you would have been in an even bigger mess than I would venture to guess you're already in.”

Jean groaned softly and Logan immediately turned his attention to her, reaching out to brush a lock of hair behind her ear. “Jean?”

“Logan?” she said softly, her eyes opening and glancing around the room. “What happened?”

“Shh,” Logan soothed, caressing her cheek gently. “I'll explain later, okay? Right now you need to sleep.”

Jean nodded and let her eyes close, drifting back to sleep almost immediately. Charles let himself study her for a moment, then turned his attention back to the man. “Take her to your room. This one may not have windows but you'll be able to feel the heat of daytime up here, and she'll be extremely susceptible to that right now. And make sure you get some sleep too. I'll take care of him.”

“What about Erik?” Logan asked, standing up and taking Jean into his arms.

“You can't leave her alone. So after sundown,” Charles said, nodding towards the door. “Go. Now.”

Logan quickly left the room and Charles turned to the young man lying on the floor in front of him. “At least twelve hours before we can get a doctor in here,” he murmured, gently lifting the unconscious man into his arms as he stood up. “Maybe I can figure out what you are in the meantime.”

He left the room and walked towards the guest room across from the library, not at all surprised to find his lover standing in front of the door, arms crossed against his chest. “I take it he's the reason the blood bond was necessary? Logan get too thirsty and go too far?”

Charles shook his head and walked into the guest room, laying the man down on the bed. “Not exactly. I know you want answers, darling, and I would love to give them to you, but I don't have many right now and I think it's better we both hear them from Logan anyway.”

Erik stood at the end of the bed as Charles situated the man across the mattress, reaching out and grabbing Charles's hand to stop him from doing any more. “Who is this guy? And why does the thought of calling Hank keep running through your head?”

Charles sighed and walked over to Erik, sliding his arms around his waist and leaning his head against his shoulder. “I don't know who this is, Logan didn't say anything about it, and I was too busy making sure he didn't die on me to check for some form of identification. And I keep thinking about calling Hank because he's the best fucking vampire lawyer in the country and unless a miracle happens, we're going to need his services.”

Erik brought his hands up to grasp Charles's face, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. “If the guy doesn't die, which he won't since you made the bond, then what would we need Hank's services as a lawyer for?”

Charles leaned further into Erik's embrace, bringing his lover's fingertips up to his temple and then closing his eyes. “I'm too tired to explain. See for yourself.”

Erik let himself into Charles's mind and pulled up the memory, anger and disappointment building as he heard and saw what had occurred in the small closet through Charles's eyes. He pulled himself away quickly, too many emotions flowing through him to even begin to express the way he was feeling. “You knew about this girl?” he eventually got out, staring straight into Charles's eyes.

“I knew he had met her while he was in the city with Raven, and I told him that he could not maintain contact with her. That was the last I heard of her presence in his life until he called her by her name in that room.”

“So he's not only maintained a relationship with a human for almost four years, but he's turned her sixty-four years before he can legally do that.” Erik walked closer to the dresser and kicked it hard. “He could get staked for this. He should get staked for this. Fuck, I thought we raised him better than that.”

“We don't even know if she's going to survive the week,” Charles said firmly. “You know as well as I do that the first one that a vampire turns is the most vulnerable to their surroundings and most likely not to survive.”

“The chances of her not surviving the week are significantly decreased by the fact that Logan is a purebred,” Erik said, his voice resigned. “But I don't think that even his status as The Kid will get him out of this one.”

Charles reached towards the dresser to steady himself, and Erik immediately grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the bed.

“Lay down next to him,” Erik said softly. “He's healing off of your energy and strength. It's going to make you temporarily weak until he is fully strong again, then you will recover quite quickly.”

Charles laid down on the bed and pulled at Erik's arm until his lover was sitting on the bed's edge. “He's not human, is he?”

Erik sighed and glanced over at the man. “He's mostly human, but there is something supernatural about him. That's what you tasted in his blood, and I would think that is what made the girl collapse after drinking from him.”

“What is he then?”

“I'm not entirely sure. We may need to consult with John about that if the man can't tell us for himself when he wakes up. But the more we can leave John out of this, the better things will be. Besides, he's suddenly obsessed with shape shifters, and I don't even want to know why.”

Charles groaned softly as the temperature of the room began to rise, and Erik immediately jumped up and turned the air conditioning on at its coldest setting. He walked back to the bed and bent down, kissing Charles's forehead. “Sleep.”

“Stay?”

“I'll be across the hall in the library. Still have more research to do for John. But you need anything and I'll be here faster than you can blink.”

Charles nodded and let his eyes close. “Don't go bother Logan.”

“Why do you think that's what I'm going to do?”

“Because I know you better than you do. Promise me you won't go bother Logan.”

Erik sighed and walked towards the doorway, making sure the metal covers for the windows were down. “I promise. Now sleep.”


	6. Chapter 6

_Washington D.C., 23 July 2298_

John frowned as his phone began to ring, glancing at the identification screen before answering it. “Staying up all day, Erik?”

“Considering what it is I came home to this morning, yes,” Erik snapped. “Look, what do you want this shape shifter stuff for? If there is one branch of the supernaturals that stays as far away from vampires as they can, it's the shape shifters.”

John pressed the button that put the call on speakerphone before hanging up the receiver. “I think I met one.”

Erik was silent for a moment. “You think you met one?”

“New kid I hired to work in the office. Said Carol sent him. His appearance is so thoroughly human that you'd either have to really concentrate on him to notice the difference or you'd have to be older than dirt like me, who notices that stuff without even trying to.”

“And this kid said nothing to you about being anything other than human?”

“No.”

“Then why the fuck do you care if he's a shape shifter?”

John reached for his glass and knocked the blood whiskey back. “I know him.”

Erik waited for further explanation, then sighed heavily when he realized he wasn't going to get one. “You know him? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I was searching his mind trying to figure out what he was, and I was getting a lot of similar images. Running through trees in a forest, stuff like that. And then suddenly this image appeared of him meeting me. It shocked me so much I pulled out of his head, hired him, then went home to drink. But before I even poured the first glass, my side of that memory appeared to me. I know him, Erik.”

“John, I know that being cryptic is one of your specialties, but could you please explain this to me? I haven't had enough sleep for this to make sense.”

John leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, letting his mind drift to the memory that was currently at the forefront of it, then sent it in Erik's direction. “See it for yourself then.”

Erik closed his eyes as he felt the memory enter his mind, amazed when he saw the surroundings the John in the memory was in. “This has to be from the late 1700s, D.C..”

“Correct. Keep watching.”

Erik nodded and immersed himself in the memory, letting himself see things as they occurred through John's eyes.

_John walked through the streets, slipping through alleyways to avoid the rowdier human establishments until he reached the street his office was on. He paused when he noticed a hooded figure sitting in front of the door, and his senses heightened immediately. It only took a few seconds for John to realize the person wasn't a vampire, and a few more to realize that they weren't a threat, so he walked slowly towards the office, stopping in front of the cloaked figure._

_“You're sitting in front of my office.”_

_“I'm waiting for you,” came a voice, clearly male, before the person lifted their head and allowed John to see his face. “I come seeking your help, Mister Chancellor.”_

_John froze when he locked eyes with the man, allowing every part of his body to be consumed by the young man's gaze. He knew this man. He knew this man despite it being the first time they'd ever met. He knew it and he knew that it was the truth and he said a silent thank you to the fates for finally sending him. “Inside then,” he managed to say, unable to tear his eyes away from the man as he stood._

_John unlocked the door and held it open for the man, then followed him into the office. Once they were inside, the man let his hood down and turned towards John. “I come on behalf of my father, even though he has no knowledge that I am here.”_

_“Then you are not here on behalf of your father,” John said, sliding his coat off and hanging it on a rack by the door. “You are here on behalf of yourself.”_

_“Our village is being attacked by a group of werewolves,” the man continued. “It happens practically every night. My father says that it is because they can sense us, and they feel us inferior to them, so they want to destroy us all.”_

_John stared at the man for a moment before walking towards his chair and motioning for the man to take one of the seats in front of his desk. “The werewolves think you are inferior to them,” he said as he sat down. “That leads me to believe that you come from a village of shape shifters.”_

_“Yes sir,” the young man said as he sat down. “My father is our leader. He has sought help from many other supernaturals, but they have all told him the way to eliminate a werewolf problem is to get a vampire to do it.”_

_“But your father would never do that, would he?”_

_“No sir. My father will probably have me killed just for coming here and seeking out your help. But the werewolf attacks are getting worse. They no longer want to just scare us and injure or kill our men. They have begun to go after the women and the children. My brother was badly injured in the last attack, and that is when I made the decision to seek out your help, despite the long held animosity between our kinds.”_

_“You may be surprised to learn that the animosity is one-sided,” John said. “Vampires have no issues with shape shifters, and to be perfectly honest, most of us don't understand the problem you shifters have with us. But that is not what we are here to discuss. How is your brother?”_

_“He is under the care of the village healer. I don't know how he is because I left to seek you out as soon as dawn broke. I've been waiting outside of your office for most of the day. I am afraid that they are attacking the village again as we speak.”_

_John nodded and reached for a book that was near his chair. “What is the name of your village?”_

_“Pomfret.”_

_John flipped through the book until the page for the village appeared. “Your village is within the territory of the Maresme clan. The Maresme clan are notorious for their egos. They feel they are superior to all creatures on this planet, supernatural or not. There is a nest of vampires not far from there. I can call on them to stand guard on the outskirts of your village for now, and arrange for a diplomatic meeting with the head of the Marseme clan. For a price, of course.”_

_The man nodded and drew a small leather sack out from underneath his cloak, placing it on the desk in front of John. “The village coins. Every last one of them.”_

_“I don't want your money.” John picked up the bag and held it out for the man to take._

_The man took the bag back but gave John a confused look. “You said there would be a price.”_

_“Yes, I did,” John said, leaning back in his chair and letting his eyes drift over the young man's body. “I never said that price was monetary.”_

_The man swallowed hard as he felt John's gaze on him. “What is the price then?”_

_“You.”_

_The man took a deep breath and John could sense the nervousness wash over him. “In what manner?” he asked quietly._

_“In whatever manner I please,” John said boldly. “I have no mind to hurt you. In fact, I wish to do the complete opposite.”_

_The man stayed silent before looking up and meeting John's gaze. “If you will stop the werewolf attacks on my village, I will willingly return to you once they have ceased. You may have your night then.”_

_John laughed. “Night? Who said anything about it only being one night?”_

_“You mean for me to join you forever,” the man said slowly. “I cannot do that, Mister Chancellor. You know that.”_

_“If you want your village saved, your family saved, then that is the price you must pay,” John said, standing up and walking around his desk. “Surely that is not too much to ask for, given what it is you are asking of me.”_

_“It would shame my family.”_

_“We can make it appear that you died in the final battle,” John said, leaning up against the desk. “Then they will think you gave your life for the village, which, technically, is what you would be doing.”_

_The man refused to meet John's gaze. “I was told vampires were manipulative, but I never imagined this.”_

_“You mean you are not intrigued?” John asked. “I would think otherwise. You certainly have been thinking some very interesting things since we walked into this office.”_

_The man's cheeks flushed bright red as he tried to stammer out an apology. “I shouldn't, I mean, I didn't mean to, I...”_

_“There is no need to apologize for such thoughts. You are not the only one who has been having them.” John stared at him for a moment before sitting down in the chair next to his. “I will give you a day to think about it, though if things in your village are as urgent as you make them out to be, I would think that the decision would be much easier and quicker to make.”_

_John took the man's left hand and brought it up to his lips, kissing the inside of his wrist gently before sinking his fangs into the flesh. The man gasped and tried to pull his hand from John's hold, but found the vampire to be far too strong. John withdrew his fangs after a few seconds and licked at the wounds he'd made on the man's wrist. “This will create a temporary bond between the two of us. This way, I will be able to keep track of you and make sure you are not hurt. It will only last for a few days. You may leave now. Come back when your decision is made. I will be waiting.”_

_The man watched as John licked his lips before quickly standing and running out of the office. John glanced back at the door and smiled. “And when you come back, I will wish to know your name, my dear shifter.”_

Erik shook his head as he felt the memory pulled away from him, blinking a few times to bring himself back to the present. “That's it?”

“That's it,” John said. “I never saw him again. The temporary bond ended and I could no longer feel him. When a week passed and he didn't return, I went to his village and found it completely destroyed. The Maresme refused to meet with me over the subject of the village. I went through other diplomatic channels and all I got back from them was that the Maresme took care of the situation. I presumed him dead. That's why I was so shocked at seeing that memory in this kid's head.”

“Didn't you recognize him?”

“Do you think if you showed a photograph of yourself in the 1700s to someone from now that they'd recognize you?” John snapped back. “I saw him hundreds of years ago for about ten minutes, during which time he was wearing a gigantic cloak with a hood that was sometimes up. It's not like he recognized me either.”

John heard the sound of rustling papers for a moment before Erik spoke again. “So how is it that a shape shifter you met in the late 1700s walked into your office roughly five hundred years later? I've never heard of an immortal shape shifter before.”

“I don't know,” John said honestly. “I was just going to start by seeing if he made the list I asked you to put together.”

“Well, what's his name? I'll tell you if he's on here.”

“Bobby Drake.”

John heard more papers rustling before the sound of Erik typing came across the line. “You're typing? Has Charles finally brought you into this millennium?”

“Shut up,” Erik said, sighing. “Bobby Drake. There is a Bobby Drake, who is known to be a shape shifter but of whom very little else is known. However, in looking back through past lists of shifters in the D.C. area, this Bobby Drake appears in each one of them.”

“How far back?”

“1812,” Erik answered. “The description of him is the same in each one of them. Twenty-three years old, blonde hair and blue eyes, just graduated from Georgetown, no known family, occupation, or current address. The source is also the same. Spoken with by compiler.”

“They've talked to him? How far apart are these lists?”

“One has been done approximately every five years.”

“Thank you,” John said softly. “You can stop looking into it.”

“But Jo—”

“I said you can stop looking into it,” John said strongly. “Get some sleep. Given what is sleeping in your house at the moment, you're going to need it.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You will find out soon enough,” John said, a slight chuckle in his voice. “Good day, Erik.”

*****

Logan awoke to the feeling of fingers running through his hair, and he reached up and grasped Jean's wrist gently. “You're awake.”

“I've never woken up beside you before,” Jean said, leaning in for a kiss. “I was enjoying watching you sleep.”

Logan let his eyes drift open as Jean pulled back, letting his gaze trail over her. “How are you feeling?”

“Different,” Jean said, laying back on the bed. “It's amazing, Logan. It's like there's been some sort of filter blocking my senses my whole life, and now it is gone. I can see things clearer, feel them more, stuff like that.”

Logan shifted onto his side and looked at her, smiling at the paleness of her skin. “You look much better than you did last night. I think whatever happened to you when you bit that guy is over.”

Jean gave him a confused look for a moment before the memory surfaced. “What was that? Something that happens the first time you feed?”

“No,” Logan said, shaking his head. “I've never seen or heard of anything like that before. I think it's got to be something about that guy.”

Jean watched as Logan winced, reaching out to caress his face softly. “What?”

“Our presence is required in the library,” Logan said seriously. “Non-negotiable.”

“Huh?”

Logan threw the sheets back and climbed out of the bed. “My father has been monitoring us. He just screamed at me.”

Jean watched as Logan walked towards his closet. “I didn't hear anything.”

Logan took a deep breath as he searched through the closet. “Vampires are telepathic.”

“Really?” Jean said excitedly, sitting up. “That's so cool.”

“The telepathy is limited. For the time being, the only person you'll be able to communicate with telepathically is me, because I am your maker. Once you learn more about how it works, and become good at it, then others will begin to give you permission to enter their minds,” Logan said as he pulled a blue t-shirt out of the closet and tossed it in Jean's direction. “That will probably be huge on you, but it'll be better than what you're wearing.”

Jean looked down and saw the blood stains and rips in her tattered blouse. “Wow, did you like attack me or something?”

“I fucking killed you!” Logan exclaimed. “I killed you, Jean. It's not a neat process.”

Jean watched as Logan stuck his head into the closet, her eyes widening as Logan's thoughts suddenly echoed in her head.

_I took away your life and cursed you to this one, and I will never be able to forgive myself for doing it._

“I told you to turn me,” Jean said out loud. “I asked for it. Don't feel guilty for doing what I wanted you to do.”

“You didn't want it,” Logan said softly. “If you wanted it, you would have asked me ages ago. This was a last resort because I was a motherfucking idiot who completely disregarded vampiric law, and I think turning you has made it worse. Now put on the shirt, because if we waste much more time, my father is going to come in here and drag us upstairs.”

Jean nodded and slowly began to undo the buttons of what was left of her blouse. “Is your mother going to be there too?”

Logan paused for a moment before pulling a clean pair of jeans from the closet. “I don't have a mother. And Erik isn't really my father, but he and Charles are the ones who raised me. I never knew my real parents.”

Jean tossed her blouse to the side and pulled the t-shirt over her head. “What happened to them?”

“They are dead,” Logan said, picking out a t-shirt that nearly matched the shade of the one he'd given to Jean. “That's all I know. All anyone has ever told me.”

Jean climbed out of bed and walked over to Logan, wrapping her arms around Logan's waist. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I didn't know. You've always talked about your parents so I assumed...”

“It's alright,” Logan said, peeling her arms from around his waist and reaching for his t-shirt. “I'd give you some different pants to wear but I think they'd just fall off you.”

Jean took a step backward and glanced down at her black trousers, frowning at the large slash across her right thigh. “I suppose there is no time to dash back to my apartment and get properly dressed?”

“You can't go back there,” Logan said as he reached for the jeans.

“What do you mean I can't go back there? It's where I live.”

“It's in the human world. Your roommate is human. Vampiric law states that you must break all connections with it and her, and we've broken enough of those laws already.”

“But my stuff...”

“There's a process for newly-turned vampires. Someone will go get your belongings and bring them here. This is your house now.”

“But how are they going to know what's mine and what's Amber's?” Jean followed as Logan walked into the adjoining room, starting when she saw their reflections in the mirror. “Whoa, I thought...”

“Most everything that is considered public knowledge about vampires is a lie,” Logan said, running his fingers through his hair before offering Jean a brush. “Brush your hair, and then we're going up to the library. And they'll know what's yours because you will tell them what's yours. But we'll get into all of that later. We've already taken too long in my father's eyes.”


	7. Chapter 7

_Westchester, NY, 23 July 2298_

Charles was leaning against the table in the library when Logan and Jean walked into the room, and that was not what Logan had been expecting. “Evening, Charles.”

“The two of you sit there,” Charles said, pointing to the sofa in front of him. “Your father will be joining us in a few minutes.”

“I was expecting him,” Logan said as he led Jean over to the sofa. “He's been screaming at me since I woke up.”

Charles nodded. “Raven has stopped by for an unexpected visit. Hopefully she will be leaving quickly.”

“Raven?” Jean said as she sat down. “Is she the one you talk to about me?”

Logan winced as he felt Charles's piercing gaze on him. “Raven knew about her?”

Logan nodded slightly and watched as Charles's eyes closed, sending Jean a pained look. “He's telling Erik. So we just got Raven into trouble too.”

Before Jean could respond, the library door flew open and Raven came stumbling inside, followed by an extremely angry looking Erik, who pointed to a chair and watched as Raven obediently sat down in it. “Am I the only person in this family who didn't know about this girl?!”

“Charles didn't really know about her,” Logan said, his head ducked to avoid Erik's gaze. “He only knew that I'd met her, not that I stayed in contact with her.”

“With all due respect, Kid, I don't really want to hear a single thing you have to say,” Erik said, walking over to Charles and leaning against the table next to him. “I want to hear from the girl.”

Jean's eyes widened and Logan squeezed her hand gently. “Answer his questions as politely as possible, and if he asks to enter your mind, let him,” he whispered. “And don't lie. He'll be able to tell.”

Jean nodded and looked up at Erik, offering him a small smile. “Hello, sir.”

“Tell me your full name.”

“Jean Grey.”

Erik glanced over at Charles. who picked up a notepad from the table and started taking notes. “Thank you. Jean, how long have you known Logan?”

“Um, four years or so? I don't remember the exact date we met, but I think it was pretty close to this time of year.”

“And how long have you known he is a vampire?”

Jean looked over at Logan for a moment before turning her attention back to Erik. “Pretty much from the beginning. I knew he was different the moment I first saw him, but it took me a little while to figure it out.”

Erik glanced at Charles again. “You figured it out on your own?”

“Yes, sir,” Jean said strongly. “It, um, it wasn't that hard to figure out, really. We could only see each other at night, he is noticeably colder to touch than a human, his skin looks like porcelain. And he never ate or drank much when we'd have dinner, and he'd always whisper to the bartender and get some drink that he'd never let me try.”

Erik stared at her until Jean wanted to squirm. “May I look inside your mind?”

Jean nodded shakily. “Will it hurt?”

“No, you will barely notice it.” Erik closed his eyes and searched through her mind, opening them with more knowledge than he'd had before. “He is not the first vampire you have known.”

Logan's eyes widened as Jean ducked her head. “No, sir.”

“You never told me that!” Logan exclaimed.

“Silence, Logan,” Erik commanded. “Tell me about your experience with the other vampire, Jean.”

Jean took a few minutes before beginning to speak. “I was out with my friends at a club while I was on vacation in Richmond, and I was tapped on the right shoulder. There was a woman there, and she asked me to come with her, so I did. She led me upstairs to this balcony, and there was this man there. His name was Jason, Jason Wyngarde, and he started to tell me that he had learned that another vampire was going to choose me, and that he couldn't let that happen. He grabbed me by the arm and tried to make me leave with him, but the whole situation felt very wrong, so I resisted. The woman who had been downstairs came back in the room and started to question what Jason was doing. He let go of me, broke an arm off the wooden chair he'd been sitting in, and drove it straight through her heart. I screamed, and suddenly the room was full of all these people, and they were surrounding him. And then this one who looked no older than I was came and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, told me that everything was going to be alright, and led me out of the room.

“His name was Caliban. I never did learn his last name. He took me from the club and to this huge mansion just outside Richmond, and he had me sit in front of some sort of panel and tell them what I knew. After that, I was allowed to return home, and I never discovered any more about what it was that had happened. When I first saw Logan, I thought he was a vampire but I wasn't entirely sure, so I decided to try and figure it out. I thought maybe he would be able to explain more to me, but when he said he'd never been to Richmond, I realized that he wouldn't. One thing I learned from the panel was that they were trying to keep whatever it was that happened from becoming known in D.C. But I was intrigued by Logan's personality, and well, he's rather good looking, and he never tried to hurt me, so I wanted to get to know him better.”

“Thank you, Jean,” Erik said, running his hands over his face. “Make note of that, Charles. That is definitely something that needs to be investigated further. Clearly the Virginians have been hiding things from us.”

“I don't want to get anyone else in trouble,” Jean said quickly. “I understand that I have caused enough trouble here as it is.”

“No, it is good that you told me that,” Erik said. “My name is Erik, and besides being Logan's father, I am also the vampiric community's Trade Representative. I am extremely sorry that you had to go through that. It must have been quite terrifying.”

Jean nodded. “It was. And it is nice to meet you, sir, even though I'm not entirely sure what your title means. Logan and I have never really discussed vampire politics.”

“What do the two of you usually discuss?”

“Honestly? He usually listens while I complain about my job.”

“And what might that be?”

Jean looked up again. “I'm an emergency room nurse. Or, well, I was.”

“Did you ever discuss vampiric things?”

“Sometimes.”

“She was interested in our nutrition,” Logan said. “She was surprised when I told her we did more than just drink blood.”

Erik shot his adoptive son a glare. “I believe I said I didn't want to hear you speak, Kid.”

“Erik,” Charles said softly, drawing his lover's gaze to him. “He's trying to make this easier on her.”

“I know what he's trying to do. I did the same thing when you were first turned. It's part of being a maker,” Erik said, turning his gaze back to the sofa. “But she is one of us now, and if she can't withstand me questioning her, then she's never going to make it out of John's alive.”

“Do you really have to involve John?” Raven said suddenly, reminding everyone of her presence. “He looked trashed when I saw him a couple of hours ago.”

“He's the American Chancellor. He must be informed of any newly turned vampires, and she is a newly turned vampire,” Erik said, pushing away from the table and walking towards Raven. “How long have you known about this without telling me?”

Raven ducked her head. “For nearly three and a half years, sire.”

“Logan spoke to you about her. What did he tell you?”

Raven shot an apologetic look in Logan and Jean's direction before bringing her eyes up to meet her maker's. “The Kid and I mostly conversed about their sex life, sire. And I did yell at him when I learned about the blood bond.”

Erik growled and was suddenly in front of Logan, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him from the sofa. “You made a blood bond with her?!”

“I didn't mean to!” Logan exclaimed. “I didn't even realize that I had until Raven figured out that I had!”

“Do you know the punishment for vampires who make blood bonds with humans without their maker's permission?” Erik snarled. “After they kill the human in front of you, they wrap you head to toe in silver and then lock you in a coffin for a century!”

“How could I ask my maker for permission?! My parents are dead! And while I love you and Charles more than anything, neither of you can give me a maker's permission!”

Erik let go of Logan and pushed him back onto the sofa before stalking out of the library, slamming the door behind him. Charles sighed and sent calming thoughts in Erik's direction before jumping up onto the table to sit.

“Is he alright?” Logan asked meekly.

“He's fine,” Charles said softly. “He just had to leave the room before he said something that he's not allowed to.”

Logan sighed and hunched down on the sofa. “He was going to say something about my parents, wasn't he?”

“Yes.”

“Why can't he? Why am I not allowed to know what happened to them?”

“It was John's decision not to tell you, and he is the only one who can change that decision. If anyone who knows the truth were to tell you without John's permission, we'd find ourselves in a coffin wrapped in silver for eternity, or perhaps even worse,” Charles sighed heavily. “We'll have to consult with Hank, but I think you just found your defense strategy, because even if you are The Kid, John's going to have to bring charges for this.”

“My defense strategy?”

“How can you be punished for doing something that requires a maker's permission when you have no way of getting that permission?” Charles said, giving Logan a sad smile. “I don't know that it will help with the fact that you're legally too young to turn a human, and I don't know what's going to happen if that man doesn't wake up, but that's what Hank's for. Best vampire lawyer in all of America. There's a reason why he's the Attorney General.”

Jean glanced between Logan and Charles for a moment before reaching out and squeezing Logan's hand. “Why do they keep calling you The Kid? I thought it was some parental term of endearment until Raven said it.”

Logan looked up at Charles and Charles nodded. “She's one of us now. She needs to know who you are.”

“Erik won't get mad?”

“Erik will understand the necessity. Besides, the moment she's around others who don't have the privilege of knowing you as Logan, she'll have to be told. Might as well do it now.”

Logan nodded and shifted towards Jean, reaching for her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “Do you remember how I tried to explain to you the way other vampires would defer to me when we first met?”

“The vampire prince thing.”

“Right,” Logan said. “Prince is the wrong word for it, but it was the closest human position that I could think of. They call me The Kid because I am a purebred vampire, the last purebred vampire to be born. Should another ever be, I would lose the title to them, but it is an extremely rare event. The last purebred vampire born before me was Wade, who you will meet at some point I'm sure. He is six hundred and ninety-six years older than me.”

Jean gave Logan a confused look. “So what's the difference between a purebred vampire and whatever the rest of us are?”

“A purebred vampire is the child of two vampires who were born vampires, not turned like you or Raven or me or Erik. For a born vampire to find their mate in another born vampire is extremely rare, and for them to have a child, even more so. That's why the position is honored among the vampire world,” Charles said. “You'll learn more about it once we get you enrolled in classes. We can skip a lot of the basic educational stuff and get you straight into the vampire-specific classes, I think. If you were a nurse, you've clearly been educated in most of the stuff those classes would cover.”

“Lucky,” Raven called out. “Hey Charles, you think it's okay if I take off? I was supposed to meet up with some people and head to the city.”

Charles searched the house for Erik's presence and found him in his study, speaking angrily into the phone. “I'll tell him you had an appointment to keep. He will probably have quite a bit more to say to you the next time you come over.”

“Thanks,” Raven said as she stood up. “Logan, call you later, and Jean, it was nice to see you again. Look forward to you being around.”

Before anyone could say anything, the library door was open and Raven was gone.

“Can I move that fast?” Jean asked after a moment.

“Not yet,” Logan said softly. “It will take you some time to learn all your new abilities.”

“Have you fed today?” Charles asked, nodding towards the door when they both nodded no. “Kitchen, then back to your room. I don't want you going anywhere until Hank gets here.”

Logan nodded and stood up, holding out his hand to help Jean up. “Whatever happened to that guy, Charles?”

Charles opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, a piercing scream echoed through the library, and Charles jumped off the table and sprinted into the guest room across the hall.

The mystery man was awake.

*****

_Washington D.C., 23 July 2298_

“He deserves to know the motherfucking truth, John. They were his parents.”

John sighed and leaned back in his chair, his eyes trained on the spot across the room where Moira was teaching Bobby the filing system. “There are things about the situation that you don't know, Erik. And those things mean he absolutely cannot be told the truth.”

“And why can't you at least tell me those things so that I can understand the situation?”

“Because if I told you, you would tell him, even without my permission to do so,” John said, laughing when he heard a loud scream through the telephone. “Ah, you still haven't dealt with that. I suggest you do so before things get out of hand.”

John moved quickly to cut off the call, then reached for his bloodbeer. “Moira?”

Moira's head whipped around and she stared attentively at John. “Yes, sir?”

“Airport,” John said firmly. “The vampire Darwin is adopting is coming in from New Orleans. Pick him up and take him to his accommodations, then go home. Leave him here.”

“Yes sir,” Moira said, smiling at Bobby before walking out of the office.

“Come,” John said, nodding in the direction of the chair next to him. “Join me.”

“Of course, sir.” Bobby carefully walked across the room, his nervousness radiating off of him. “How are you this evening?”

“Honestly, I need a break,” John said, sighing as Bobby sat down next to him. “And I'd like to take it with you.”

“What does that mean?” Bobby asked, his voice shaky.

“It means I feel I should know you better than I do,” John said, taking a long sip of his bloodbeer. “Especially since I have hired a shape shifter.”

Bobby froze for a moment, then let out a huge sigh. “Are you talking about me?”

“Did you think I wouldn't be able to tell?”

“That's not what I meant,” Bobby said, turning to look at him. “I meant that I don't know what I am, except that sometimes I wake up in the morning in the woods with no clothes on. Are you telling me I'm a shape shifter? I don't even know what a shape shifter is.”

John stared at him for a moment, then set his bloodbeer down and stood up. “Come with me.”

Bobby stood up immediately and followed John through a doorway and up a flight of stairs. “Where are we going?”

John opened the door at the top of the stairs, revealing a garage with a sleek red sports car. “Get in.”

Bobby did as he was told, John climbing into the driver's side and starting the engine. “Sir, I have no idea what's going on. Have I done something wrong?”

“You have done nothing wrong,” John said firmly, pulling out of the garage and murmuring the command to make the garage door close. “You have piqued my curiosity, and I'm done with the office for the night.”

“We didn't lock up.”

“I'll know if anyone tries to get past the wards.”

“My car,” Bobby started as they drove past where he had parked.

“Will still be there tomorrow evening,” John said, turning to look at him. “Calm down, Bobby. Nothing is going to happen to you, except perhaps you finally getting some of the answers you are seeking.”

Bobby forced himself to take a deep breath and settle into the seat. “So where are we going then?”

“My place,” John said softly, reaching to turn on the radio, smiling when the soft notes began to drift through the speakers. “May I ask you some questions?”

“Of course, sir,” Bobby said.

“We're not at the office anymore. Please call me John.”

“I'm just trying to be respectful.”

John glanced over at him with a smile. “I know. But I do enjoy the company of people who treat me as a person and not the Chancellor, and I'd like you to do that when we're outside the office.”

“If that's what you want, si—” Bobby cut himself off quickly. “John.”

“That's better,” John said, turning his eyes back to the road. “How much of your life do you remember?”

Bobby took a deep breath and twisted his hands together in his lap. “Honestly? Only about a week prior to when I started working for you.”

“Family?”

“I don't seem to have any.”

“Friends?”

“Don't appear to have any of them either.”

John pulled off of the street and into a secluded driveway that Bobby hadn't even noticed among the small forest of trees. “Welcome to my home.”

They drove for a few more seconds and then the trees gave way to a view of a large, spectacular looking Colonial home. “Wow,” Bobby said softly. “It's beautiful. I'd never guess there was a building this old in this part of town.”

“Hence all the trees,” John said, pulling the car to a stop in front of the door. “This has been my home for many centuries. And while it may look old on the outside, I assure you, it has every modern comfort you can think of inside. Come on. I think I even have some whiskey that you'll be able to drink.”

Bobby climbed out of the car and followed John up the sidewalk towards the door. “Do you bring many people here?”

John unlocked the door and held it open, motioning for Bobby to walk inside then following him. “You are the first person besides Moira to have been here in nearly five hundred years.”

Bobby looked around as the lights came on, smiling when he noticed the dark walls. “Black paint?”

“Darker paint is less reflective of the sunlight that manages to creep in through the windows,” John said, walking past him and towards the sitting room. “It's helpful for when I have to be up during the day.”

Bobby followed him and looked around some more, slightly confused. “I don't see any windows.”

John picked up a remote and pressed a button, and sections of the walls began to move until two windows appeared in the wall across from him. “I mostly leave them covered up because when I don't, I tend to forget to close them, and of course those are always the days when I have to get up during the day and I have to dodge sunlight. Trust me, that's no fun.”

Bobby walked over to one of the windows and looked out, seeing nothing but black. “I'd say it's a nice view, but...”

“It is, but you can't see it,” John said, walking over to his liquor cabinet and pulling a couple of glasses and bottles out. “So you have no memory of your life prior to a week before beginning to work for me, you appear to have no family or friends, and you sometimes wake up in the woods with no clothes on.”

“Right,” Bobby said, wandering over to the sofa and sitting down on it. “Makes me sound like some sort of a freak, doesn't it?”

John walked over to the sofa with a glass in each hand, sitting down next to Bobby and handing him the one with straight whiskey in it. “No, it makes you sound like a shape shifter, albeit a rather strange one.”

Bobby took a sip of his drink. “A strange one?”

“I know more about you than I think you do,” John said, downing his drink and setting the empty glass on the coffee table in front of him. “I've never done this with someone who isn't a vampire, so I don't know if it will work, but I would like to try it with you. Set your drink on the table and give me your hands.”

Bobby did as John asked, shifting to face him when John did the same. “What are we trying?”

“Vampires have the ability to send not only telepathic messages to another vampire, but also images and entire memories. And I have a memory that I think you need to see,” John said, taking Bobby's fingers and bringing them up to his temple. “Close your eyes, and if an image appears, tell me what it is.”

Bobby closed his eyes and gasped when the darkness faded away and a clear picture of a city street appeared. “I see a street, but it looks like it existed centuries ago.”

“It did. The image you are seeing is the street outside my old office here in D.C. in 1778. Now, I'm going to concentrate on the memory that I want you to see, and I want you to watch it without saying anything so that you get the whole thing uninterrupted. What you will be seeing is through my eyes, and you should also be able to hear my thoughts. We will discuss what you have seen afterward.”

“Okay,” Bobby said softly.

John began to relive the memory of the first time he had met the man in front of him. He could feel Bobby start when he realized he was looking at himself, heard him gasp as their discussion that night played out, and when he reached the end of the memory, he gently lowered Bobby's hands. Bobby stayed still, his eyes remained closed, and John swallowed hard as he waited for his response.

Eventually, Bobby opened his eyes and looked directly into John's. “That was me.”

“Yes.”

“You're sure of that? It's not just someone who looked like me.”

John shook his head. “When you first came into the office, I searched through your mind trying to figure out what about you was different, until I stumbled upon your memory of that meeting, which is what made me recall my own. It was definitely you.”

Bobby took a shaky breath and ran his hands over his face. “What happened when I came back?”

“You didn't,” John said softly, afraid of scaring him. “I did not see you again until you walked into the office.”

“What happened to the village?”

“It was destroyed. I have no further knowledge of what happened than that, other than the fact that it was the Maresme who did it.”

“My family...”

“I don't know,” John said honestly. “I wish for your sake that I did.”

Bobby closed his eyes again, searching his mind for any memory of the event. “Why don't I remember any of this?”

“I don't know. I don't even know how it is you are still alive. Shape shifters are not immortal beings. You should have died centuries ago. That is why I called you a strange one.”

Bobby opened his eyes and saw the concern in John's. “Your thoughts in that memory...you said your soul knew mine. And then the conversation...you wanted me to stay with you. Forever.”

John took a moment to decide how to phrase things, then reached for Bobby's hand. “When a vampire meets their mate, they know it because they feel that their soul knows the other person's. You were young, and you had been taught to distrust vampires. It was a trick to get you to come back and to give you the chance to see me without that veil of distrust. I have thought for many years that I must have been wrong that night, that you weren't my mate, but now that you are here in front of me again, I know for a fact that it is true. I've waited thousands of years for you.”

Bobby took another shaky breath as John brought his hand up to his lips and kissed it softly. “Is that the reason I feel so insanely attracted to you?”

John smiled softly. “Most likely. Though I would like to think that part of it has to do with my good looks.” Bobby laughed and John inched closer to him, bringing his hand up to cup Bobby's cheek. “I can't believe that you're here in front of me, my dear shifter. Even if I have no idea how it's possible.”

“Is there any way we can figure out what has happened to me?” Bobby asked softly. “Anyone we can ask?”

John nodded. “I have sent a request for help to the office of the head of the worldwide vampiric community. He is older and wiser than I am, and hopefully he will be able to provide some sort of information. He was around when relations between vampires and shape shifters were friendlier than they are now.”

“And you'll tell me if you hear anything?”

“You don't even have to ask that,” John said softly, swallowing hard as Bobby's tongue gently slid across his lips. “May I kiss you?”

Bobby nodded slightly and John moved slowly, pressing their lips together gently. Bobby sighed into the kiss and allowed John to pull him closer, laughing softly as their lips broke apart. “That was so much better than I'd imagined it would be.”

“It was everything I was hoping it would be,” John murmured. “I don't think I could explain to you just how much I desire you.”

“So what do we do now?” Bobby asked softly.

“We wait to hear what information comes back from Sebastian. And I think it would be wise not to turn you in the meantime.”

“Turn me,” Bobby murmured. “You're going to make me a vampire?”

“Eventually, yes. Something has kept you alive all these years, but I want to guarantee that you will be around forever.”

Bobby took that information in and nodded. “So we wait for this Sebastian guy, and then you turn me into a vampire. What about now?”

“Now?”

“Yeah, now. What do we do now?”

“Come to bed with me,” John said seriously. “I've wanted you there since the first time I saw you.”

Bobby felt himself blush. “Isn't that a little soon?”

“When a vampire chooses their human mate, the relationship is usually consummated immediately,” John said, sliding a hand around Bobby's waist. “And I've wanted to experience that for so long. But if you are not ready, then we will wait.”

Bobby saw the flash of disappointment in John's eyes before it disappeared, and he slid a hand around the back of John's neck. “How about we go to bed and see what happens, hm?”

John growled at the sight of the smile on Bobby's face and whisked him up. “I will have you know that I do not like teasing.”

“We'll see about that,” Bobby said, laughing as John took off towards what he hoped was the bedroom.


End file.
